The United States has a Surgeon General, who serves as the public face of the government in matters concerning public health. Should there be a single person who serves as a national spokesperson for quantitative issues?
What is the mathematical analogue of the warning on the cigarette package?
In Australia there is the Australian Statistician who is the head of the Bureau of Statistics but also had spokesman duties.
This is not a bad idea. However, it could be seen as a threat by lobbyists and many in power with political and ideological agendas. It would probably never get through Congress. That said, it’s important to keep pressing for enlightened analysis and thought, and loudly crying foul when someone in power is abusing, ignoring, or suppressing good data, statistics, mathematical analysis, physics, or whatever.
That song is almost good enough to be on Reckoning!
[...] What about having a Reckoner General, like a surgeon general? That person could answer basic questions to explain how models are being used and to head off creepy models. Proposed by my pal Jordan Ellenberg. [...]