What we miss when we focus on the average | Am I Normal? with Mona Chalabi

Transcriber:

When we think about data, we usually think about averages.

Prevodilac: Andjelka Stojanovic Lektor: Ivana Korom

Kada razmišljamo o podacima, obično mislimo na prosek.

Average height, average salary,

Prosečna visina, prosečna plata,

average number of hours spent on video calls.

prosečan broj sati proveden na video pozive.

It’s tempting to focus on these neat little summaries of our world.

Vuče nas da se fokusiramo na ove male uređene podatke našeg sveta.

But the world is a lot messier than these averages can make it out to be.

Zapravo, svet je mnogo neuredniji nego što prosek to može dokazati.

So instead, I look for the outliers.

Umesto toga, ja obraćam pažnju na izuzetke.

They can offer a better reflection of this chaos we call life.

Oni mogu da ponude bolji odraz ovog velikog haosa koji zovemo životom.

And they can offer a different perspective

Takođe oni mogu da ponude drugačiji pogled

on the things that we think we understand.

na stvari koje mi mislimo da razumemo.

[Am I Normal? with Mona Chalabi]

[Da li sam ja normalan? sa Monom Šalabi]

Take, for instance, the stats around teens and cigarettes.

Uzmimo za primer statistiku srednjoškolaca i cigareta.

According to the CDC, between 1997 and 2019,

Prema CKB, između 1997 i 2019,

the percentage of American high school students who smoked plummeted

procenat američkih srednjoškolaca koji puše je pao

from 36 to just six percent.

sa 36 na samo šest procenata.

That seems like a pretty big win,

To izgleda kao veliki plus,

but when you break apart the data and look at the outliers,

ali kada razbijemo podatke i obratimo pažnju na izuzetke,

it is a totally different picture.

stvaramo totalno drugu sliku.

Among American Indian and native Alaskan students,

Između američkih Indijaca i studenata sa Aljaske,

cigarette usage is much higher than that six percent average.

korišćenje cigareta je mnogo veće nego šest procenata prosečno.

It comes in at a sizable 21 percent.

Dolazi do priličnih 21 posto.

All other racial and ethnic groups were in the single digits.

Sve ostale rasne i etničke grupe su svrstane u jednom broju.

So what first seemed like this great success story

Dakle,ono što je prvo delovalo kao velika uspešna priča,

is actually an indicator of how much work we need to do

je zapravo pokazatelj toga koliko moramo da radimo

to reach some of the most marginalized communities.

da bismo došli do nekih marginalizovanih zajednica.

In general, when we present data as a scatterplot,

U suštini, kada predstavljamo podatke dijagramom,

the average would usually look like this.

prosek obično izgleda ovako.

And where there are outliers,

One koji ne spadaju u prosek,

the typical approach is to undervalue them,

tipično je da ih potcenimo,

to see them as a deviation from the average

da ih vidimo kao odstupanje od proseka

or from what society thinks is normal.

ili od onoga što društvo smatra normalnim.

But I like to call these outliers “lost birds.”

Ja volim da ih nazovem “izgubljene ptice.”

It's a nickname I use for something or someone who has gone astray.

To je nadimak koji volim da koristim za nešto ili nekoga ko je zalutao.

If you look hard enough,

Ako dobro pogledate,

you'll find that these lost birds pop up everywhere.

videćete da ovih “izgubljenih ptica” ima svuda.

Like my mom, for example.

Moja mama, na primer.

She doesn't like being on camera, so this puppet will have to do.

Ona ne voli kameru, zato ću morati da koristim ovu lutku.

She's a soft spoken, hijabi woman who isn't much bigger than this puppet.

Ona je žena mirnog glasa, nosi hidžab, ne mnogo veća od ove lutke.

Because of that, it's easy for some people to underestimate her.

Zbog toga je mnogi lako potcenjuju.

But don't let those first impressions fool you.

Ali ne dopustite da vas prvi utisak prevari.

“In my generation,

“U mojoj generaciji,

we used to listen and accept what they tell us.

slušali smo i prihvatali ono što nam kažu.

'Do what you're told.'

‘Radi ono što ti je rečeno.’

But when I got older,

Vremenom, kako sam starija,

I just changed and I started to argue my point and get what I want."

počela sam da se raspravljam da bih dobila ono što želim.”

My mom's a retired doctor, an avid ugly-dress maker,

Mama je doktorka u penziji, strastveni tvorac ružnih haljina,

a mother of two and a grandmother of none.

majka dvoje dece, unučiće još nema.

Though she spends a fair amount of time trying to speak that into existence,

Iako troši dosta vremena pokušavajući da te reči obistini,

"I think for every mother, for her daughter, she wants a grandchild."

“Smatram da svaka majka, za svoju ćerku, želi da ima unuče.”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

"Sorry, Mona."

“Izvini Mona.”

Moving on.

Idemo dalje.

My mom is also a lost bird.

Mama je takođe izgubljena ptica.

"Me?"

“Ja?”

She has, statistically speaking, gone astray.

Ona je, statistički govoreći, zalutala.

"Yeah, but it was a good deviation."

“Da, ali to je bilo dobro odstupanje.”

Back in the late '70s,

Krajem ’70-ih,

my mom left Iraq and moved to the UK

mama napusta Irak, preselivši se u UK

to further her medical training and practice.

radi dalje medicinske obuke i prakse.

She's among the four percent of people born in Iraq who now live abroad.

Ona spada među četiri posto ljudi Iraka koji sada žive van zemlje.

By the early 2000s,

Početkom 2000-ih,

just three percent of UK doctors with her experience

samo tri posto doktora u UK, sličnog iskustva,

were non-white and practicing in her speciality.

nisu bili belci, u njenoj struci.

My mom is a lost bird because she is an outlier.

Mama je izgubljena ptica zbog toga što ne spada u prosek.

She's one of the rare few to leave her home country

Ona je jedna od retkih koji su napustili svoju zemlju

and even rarer still among her medical peers.

i još ređa među svojim medicinskim vršnjacima.

We all think that the people that we love are special,

Svi mi mislimo da su ljudi koje volimo posebni,

and there is some truth to that.

i ima istine u tome.

But it’s worth considering the ways that we are all lost birds.

Vredi uzeti u obzir da smo svi izgubljene ptice.

Because when we focus on the average and we ignore the outliers,

Zbog toga što kad se fokusiramo na prosek i ignorišemo izuzetke,

we lose all of the richness and insights that those stories provide.

gubimo bogatstvo i uvid u to šta nam pružaju te priče.

But when we dig into the deviations, we get to see the bigger picture.

Ali kada tražimo odstupanja, u mogućnosti smo da vidimo širu sliku.

One from a bird's-eye view.

Iz ptičije perspektive.