Dataclysm

This is a really interesting book. We’re hearing a lot about big data, but here is a different look at some of it. Everything here is fresh. This is not another attempt to explain statistical methods either. Rather, the data speaks for itself (selves? “data” is plural, if you want to be technical). There is so much of it out there that we can now see very revealing trends. These are often in line with cultural assumptions, but there are some new insights, too. And, it’s all backed up by numbers. The volume alone is outstanding, and the author repeats a fact that I still find shocking: there are more tweeted words in two years than printed words for as long as there have been printed words.

We make so much of our online selves public, without inhibitions. Computers effectively record our thoughts that no one else can hear. Google and its search trends provide one striking example. You start to type in, and what is suggested to follow changes is a reflection of what is actually on peoples’ minds. I must be pretty naïve. The huge numbers of people that search for n-word jokes is disturbing. The fact that those numbers spike coinciding with political events is just as striking. Racism, sexism, and resulting inequalities are very real, and I can’t begin to get into that here. Another upsetting trend, now supported by real statistics, is that men aged 20-50 find women in their very early twenties to be most attractive. I sometimes feel like I don’t understand people. Now I know a few reasons why. Having this hard, candid data could be a big step towards improvements in how we treat each other.

On the book’s webpage, there is an interesting “relationshiptest” that connects to your facebook page. I don’t use Twitter, and have relatively few facebook friends, so at least my result of the network theory did not seem to match up with the reality. The social sciences are seldom among my reading material, but if I can sum up the effect of this book in two words, “really interesting”. The author concludes with his thoughts on the trade-offs in balancing how much information about ourselves we put out there, how much we benefit, and how much we are allowing ourselves to be invaded (if the term “invasive” extends to this). I think this book is a first of its kind, and in the years to come, it will be even more interesting to see how trends have progressed.