Squiggle is a special-purpose programming language for probabilistic estimation. Think: "Guesstimate as a programming language." Squiggle is free and open-source.

Read the overview.

Overarching goals

Allow non-experts to see the "sum" of views on a question
- Allow non-experts
Allow expression of estimated distributions and functions easily ^[1]

Squiggle is not

For intensive calcution

Models vs estimation functions

A key notion is the difference between models and estimation functions
Models are high detail and expensive to run. They make implications about causality
Explanation functions used cached date and are cheap to run
The world is a model, a photograph or video game simulator is an estimation function

The world is made of complex models, but we want answers to simpler questions - what is the most pressing thing to work on? How do we reduce risk? What am I going to have for lunch?

^{^}
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/i5BWqSzuLbpTSoTc4/squiggle-an-overview#What_Squiggle_is_Meant_For