Why do you want to be able to do that? Do you mean that you want to be able to look at a spreadsheet and move around numbers in your head until you know what the parameter estimates are? If you have access to a statistical software package, this would not give you the ability to do anything you couldn’t have done otherwise. However, that is obvious, so I am going to assume you are more interested in groking some part of the underlying the epistemic process. But if that is indeed your goal, the ability to do the parameter estimation in your head seems like a very low priority, almost more of a party trick than actually useful.
I think it would be very useful. I have access to software packages, but it takes effort to gather data, type it in, etc. If I could do it in my head—my mind mentally keeping track of observations and updating the parameters as I go through life, for all sorts of questions—does it look like rain today? how energetic do I feel today? -- I’d be building accurate models of everything important in my life. It would be a different level of rationality.
I’d give people the ability to do multiple regressions in their head. Because I want to be able to do multiple regression in my head.
Why do you want to be able to do that? Do you mean that you want to be able to look at a spreadsheet and move around numbers in your head until you know what the parameter estimates are? If you have access to a statistical software package, this would not give you the ability to do anything you couldn’t have done otherwise. However, that is obvious, so I am going to assume you are more interested in groking some part of the underlying the epistemic process. But if that is indeed your goal, the ability to do the parameter estimation in your head seems like a very low priority, almost more of a party trick than actually useful.
I think it would be very useful. I have access to software packages, but it takes effort to gather data, type it in, etc. If I could do it in my head—my mind mentally keeping track of observations and updating the parameters as I go through life, for all sorts of questions—does it look like rain today? how energetic do I feel today? -- I’d be building accurate models of everything important in my life. It would be a different level of rationality.