Profiling

If you say you are for profiling, you will be called a racist, or worse.  Yet, everyone uses profiling – and they should.

Suppose that you will win $100 if you pick a red marble from one of two bowls while blindfolded.  You know that Bowl 1 has 60 red marbles and 40 blue marbles. And that Bowl 2 has 40 red marbles and 60 blue marbles.  The intelligent choice is to pick from Bowl 1.  That is profiling.  If you refuse to use profiling, you will flip a coin to determine which bowl to choose.

Your car won't start.  When you press the start button, nothing happens – no sound, no click, nothing.  If you are a profiler, you check the battery, starter motor, etc.  If you are not a profiler, you are just as likely to check the tires.

You decide to enjoy a dinner out.  You want to find an Italian restaurant.  If you are a profiler, you look for a sign indicating Italian food.  If you are not a profiler, you just try a restaurant.

You always leave your iPhone in either your bedroom or the kitchen.  If you search for it in your bedroom and kitchen, you are a profiler.  If you search for it in the bathroom, you are not a profiler.

You are walking along a street in New York City.  You are mugged by a man with Asian features.  If you mention to the police that the mugger is a male with Asian features, you are profiling.  If the police search for a man with Asian features, they are profiling.

Suppose you are a policeman who hates Asians and wants to arrest as many of them as possible.  A crime is reported.  The facts reported to you make it possible that the perpetrator is Asian, but more likely that he is not.  You stop only Asians, thereby maximizing the probability of being able to arrest an Asian.  You are profiling to accomplish an unacceptable goal.  That is not a reason to bar profiling.  It is a reason to insist on using profiling appropriately.

Profiling enables you to maximize the probability of getting the result you want.

Profiling is nothing more than making decisions intelligently.

Whether to profile or not is not the issue.  The only issue is whether the profiling is done to achieve acceptable goals.

For the techies: Profiling is the application of Bayes Theorem.