Decision Nerds

Seeing the future

October 09, 2023 Paul Richards & Joe Wiggins
Decision Nerds
Seeing the future
Show Notes Chapter Markers

In this episode we discuss how we can make better forecasts with Professor Paul Goodwin.

We tackle everything from the techniques available, to human problems around understanding, bias and incentives. See the chapter headings for full details.


Notes
Philip Tetlock's book is Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

A paper that describes the key concepts can be found here. 

Worst forecasting joke ever
Introduction to Paul Goodwin
Podcast overview
Introduction to scenario analysis
Disrputing stratgic inertia
Making scenario analysis useful
The problem of scenario bias
Avoiding denial of unpleasant scenarios
Can scenario analysis make us complacent?
How can we make 'Devil's Advocates' work?
When do groups outperfom individuals?
An introduction to the Delphi Technique
Challenges in group decision-making
The role of models and where they add value
When should we 'tweak' models?
Communicating forecasts to non-experts - challenges + solutions
Incentive problems in forecasting
Explainability and belief
Superforecasters
Subject matter expertise vs. forecasting skill
How do we help non-professional decison-makers make better choices?
Paul's 5 key suggestions for better forecasts