How Data Happened

January 23, 2023
How did numbers become the “obvious way to understand and exercise power”? ask Columbia math professor Wiggins (Data Science in Context) and Columbia history professor Jones (Reckoning with Matter) in this edifying chronicle. Tracing the rise of data and statistics, the authors begin at the end of the 18th century as European states gained strength and sought to understand their power through tabulating the physical resources at their disposal. Early statistical methods, Wiggins and Jones contend, were developed to justify eugenics, with Francis Galton and other scientists attempting to quantify supposed racial differences. Other milestones include the invention of digital computation to break German cyphers during WWII, mid-century concerns about the federal government’s collection of personal data, the commercialization of data by tech giants, and the proliferation of AI. The authors emphasize that mass data collection was not inevitable, and to ameliorate corporate and state abuses of privacy and power, Wiggins and Jones advocate for stronger regulation of the tech industry and collective action by its employees. Though some of the mathematical background may go over the heads of lay readers, the history is nonetheless trenchant and successfully illuminates the contingency of data’s privileged place in modern decision-making. Incisive and thoroughly researched, this one’s a winner.

August 1, 2023

Wiggins, a professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and chief data scientist at the New York Times, and Jones (Reckoning with Matter), a Guggenheim fellow and history professor at Columbia, take listeners through the history of data, beginning with the origin of statistics as a separate discipline and its widespread acceptance as the backbone of the scientific method. Narrator Eric Jason Martin carefully presents the authors' arguments that data and statistics have played a pivotal role in history, from legitimizing racism during the eugenics movement to assisting the U.S. government in raising armies and levying taxes, based on information gathered during the national census. Today, data, statistics, and algorithms wield enormous power and are used by social media and corporations to attract customers, track customer spending, and predict future behaviors and outcomes. Martin narrates this book, written for laypeople, with the clarity needed to cut through a complex topic. VERDICT Wiggins and Jones's analysis of how data has been gathered, interpreted, and disseminated over the past century raises many questions about how data will be used in future endeavors. A thought-provoking and well-researched discussion that should appeal to fans of Sinan Aral's The Hype Machine.--Laura Trombley

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