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{{a|devil||}}{{quote|“Say you look at information on a yearly basis, or stock prices, or the fertilizer sales of your father-in-law’s factory in Vladivostok. Assume further that for what you are observing, oat a yearly frequency, the ratio of signal to noise is about one to one (half noise, half signal) — this means that about half the changes are real improvements or degradations, the other half come from randomness. This ratio is what you get from yearly observations. But if you look at the very same data on a daily basis, the composition would change to 95 percent noise, 5 percent signal. And if you observe the data on an hourly basis, as people immersed in the news and market price variations tend to, the split becomes 99.5 percent noise to 0.5 percent signal. That is two hundred times more noise than signal — which is why anyone who listens to news (except when very, very significant events take place) is one step below sucker.” | |||
:—{{author|Nassim Nicholas Taleb}}, {{Br|Antrifragile}} | |||
}} | |||
{{d|signal-to-noise ratio|/ˈsɪgnl-tuː-nɔɪz ˈreɪʃɪəʊ/|n}} | |||
The ratio of the strength of an electrical or other signal carrying meaningful information to that of unwanted interference within which it is presented. In a legal tract, the amount of noise greatly exceeds the signal. | |||
The [[signal-to-noise ratio]] and the tragedy of the [[digital commons]]: data is now costless, so we drown in it. But there is no more “[[signal]]” then there was 50 years ago. Attention spans haven’t changed. Transaction capacities haven’t changed: there is just more noise. Noise is unlimited and free. | |||
So: how to add value in this time of digital plenty? ''Extract signal from noise''. | |||
Where are the machines which will help us do this? | |||
File, with all the other dross, under “[[Why is legaltech so disappointing?|why is legaltech so disappointing?]]” | |||
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