佩西·戴康尼斯(Persi Diaconis)抬起眉毛,古怪地看了一看,在他的破旧的黑裤子口袋里摸着找一个硬币。他掏出一枚镍币,往空中一抛。正面朝上。再抛,又是正面朝上。他再抛一次,还是正面朝上。“我可以这样拋硬币,每次都让它正面朝上落地,”他说,“这很发人深思。也许抛硬币根本就不是随机的。说某样东西是随机的,到底是什么意思呢?”戴康尼斯是从一名有世界声誉的魔术师改行而来的斯坦福大学统计学家。他现在每天的工作就是反复思考关于随机性的本质的哲学问题。统计学是科学中最为内省的学科。它告诉人们怎样去感知这个世界,怎样从所看到的东西推知将来应该出现的东西。统计学家结成较小的、联系紧密的圈子,很象戴康尼斯15年前所脱离的魔术师的圈子。 Persi Diaconis raised his eyebrows and looked at it strangely, finding a coin in his worn black pants pocket. He took out a nickel coin and tossed it into the air. Face up. Toss again, but also face up. He tossed again, still face up. “I can flip the coin like this, and let it face up and down each time,” he said. "It’s very thought-provoking. Maybe throwing a coin is not random at all. Say something is random, what does that mean? ????????? Kang Ni Si is from a world-renowned magician diverted from Stanford statisticians. His daily job is to think repeatedly about the philosophical question about the nature of randomness. Statistics is the most introspective discipline in science. It tells people how to perceive the world and what to expect from what they see. Statisticians come in smaller, more connected circles, much like the circle of magicians that Deconstructed from 15 years ago.