[mcbrown]

BayesDB and BQL are great ideas in theory. But the problem with building any "general" analysis tool to abstract away underlying complexity is that it must either be (a) a least common denominator solution, or (b) the proverbial hammer to which everything will look like a nail.

The reason why there are lots of different statistical methods is that different problems and different samples from different populations call for different approaches. And frequently the reason why a certain approach is invalid in a particular use case is subtle, difficult to explain, and easy to miss. Abstracting that complexity away from the would-be "scientist" is an invitation for them to develop unreasonable confidence in their results "because the model said so." We have more than enough of that attitude already, thank you very much.

[fizixer]

I guess what you're trying to say is that BayesDB and BQL are leaky abstractions?