After all, as Claude Bernard pointed out so elegantly some 150 years ago, we only need statistics when we do not understand the problem. Where there is complete understanding, statistics become unnecessary. Statistics sometimes seem to be used like a rather neat packaging of ignorance to provide an illusion of knowledge. (Johannes Borgstein. The Lecture. Lancet;2002:360:1708)
結局のところ，150年も前にクロード・ベルナールがいみじくも指摘した通り，我々が統計にご登場願うのは，問題を理解できない時だけだ．本当に物事の本質がわかっているのなら，統計なんて要らない．無知を小奇麗に包装してわかったような感じにさせる道具．統計なんてそんなもんさ．