The death of the statistician

This ended up being more of a blog than a comment lengthwise. I really believe that the intense discussion of'data scientist' vs. 'statistician' is one that's driven by quite a number of factors. And I think it is inappropriate, presumptuous at best to say that there is a'death' of any one particular discipline in this area. The quantitative and computational arena, both in the theoretical and applied arena is evolving, but nevertheless much is grounded in the disciplines of statistical practitioners. Here are some simple armchair thoughts about how and why I believe that'data scientist' and'statistician' are at their core nearly synonymous.