Megavariate Genetics: What You Find Is What You Go Looking For

The subjectivity or “purpose dependency” of measurement in biology is discussed using examples from high-dimensional medical genetic research. The human observer and study designer tacitly determine the numerical and graphical representation of biological simplicity or complexity via choice of ascertainment (sampling frame), numbers to measure, referential basis, statistical learning formalism and feature search, and also via the selection of display styles (cognitive analogies) for all these quantifications.