Remembering Gini's opening lecture at the first scientific meeting of the Italian Statistical Society on "The dangers of statistics"

Abstract

In his opening lecture at the first scientific meeting of the Italian Statistical Society (SIS), Pisa-Italy 09-10-1939, Professor Corrado Gini presented a penetrating discussion on some of the possible dangers related to the widespread use of statistical tools, especially with regards to the possible ambiguous interpretation of associated conclusions. Since then, due to availability of relatively cheap and powerful computers, efficient software, and diffuse systems for automatic data collection, the possibility of dangers has largely increased. In this presentation, we would like to discuss, among the many, a list of potential dangers including some that could not even be imagined at the time of Gini's lecture.