Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,18 Nov 2021,28 mins

Available for over a year

Sabermetrics, the search for objective knowledge about baseball by analysing statistical records, has transformed the sport. But can statistics and formulas really do a better job of picking the best players than a baseball coach with decades of experience? Professor Steven Pinker is joined by Sig Mejdal, sabermetrician, former NASA engineer and assistant manager of the Baltimore Orioles and by Professor Ellen Peters, director of the Centre for Science Communication Research in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. They discuss the ongoing relationship between human expertise and statistical evidence. Producers: Imogen Walford and Joe Kent Editor: Emma Rippon Think with Pinker is produced in partnership with The Open University. ARCHIVE Laurel or Yanny: vocabulary.com

Programme Website
More episodes