My opinion piece about power laws has just come out in Science. I was interviewed by a reporter writing a BBC article, which is slated to come out tomorrow. As I write this, the .html version of the article seems to have occasionally (and incorrectly) used the symbol for gamma instead of that for lambda. Sigh... The .pdf version of the file has the correct symbols. (We did all of the page-proofing on the .pdf version, so I only just saw the .html version for the first time.)
Anyway, here is a bit more about the article:
Title: Critical Truths About Power Laws
Authors: Michael P. H. Stumpf and Mason A. Porter
Tagline: "Most reported power laws lack statistical support and mechanistic backing."
What should I say? How about kaboom! Anyway, many of you know that I have been ranting about this for years.
Update (2/10/12): The BBC article is delayed until early next week. Apparently there is some actual news to report.
Might be of interest: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cplx.20366/full
ReplyDeleteMy eyes glaze over when I see words "power law" so I have not really read it.
I haven't seen that article before. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think that your reaction to those words is the correct one. :) Hopefully more people will have such reactions because of our article!