Prediction Takes a Step Forward
August 21, 2014
Prediction is hard, even within the realm of the impossible some may say. However, prediction has taken a step forward with the work of a Web site, correlated.org. Their goal is to find correlation between seemingly unrelated things. They have been able to take the aggregated results and draw greater conclusions about the wider population. Read more in the Business Insider article, “Correlation Expert Explains How 5 Questions Allow Him To Predict A Bunch Of Traits About People.”
The article begins:
“Gallagher, a former newspaper editor, runs correlated.org, a site that polls registered users on a wide variety of questions to identify strange correlations, ranging from the tendency of pot smokers to prefer sweet snacks to the tendency of Twitter users to remember their dreams. He also recently released a book. ‘Our answers to five basic questions are enough to predict our preferences and opinions about a whole lot of other things,’ Gallagher wrote.”
This could be good news for the world of predictive analytics. Sure, predictive analytics are pretty tried and true in the world of insurance, but in terms of consumer behavior, and other more casual needs, it is harder to draw straight lines. Exploring these smaller, less linear relationships through correlated.org may produce big dividends for other areas. Quite frankly, it is impressive that they are successfully predicting anything, and it bodes well for the future.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 21, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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