Vanishing Gradients Episode 20: Data Science: Past, Present, and Future
Oct 5, 2023
Chris Wiggins, Chief data scientist for the New York Times, and Matthew Jones, professor of history at Princeton University, discuss their book on the history of data and its impact on society. They explore topics such as the use of data for decision making, the development of statistical techniques, the influence of Francis Galton on eugenics, and the rise of data, compute, and algorithms in various fields.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
History Makes The Present Contingent
- History makes the present strange and shows our current data norms are contingent, not inevitable.
- Removing technological determinism reveals who benefits from current data-driven values.
Data Are Constructed, Not Given
- Data are human-made artifacts full of subjective design choices, not divine facts handed down.
- Examining dataset origins reveals biases and invites critique of supposedly 'given' numbers.
Statistics Emerged With Moral Agendas
- Early statistical projects often aimed to 'improve society' and were entwined with eugenic thinking.
- Tools like correlation and regression emerged within contested moral and political aims.