The Problems of Prediction, Part 2

Our overconfidence in our predictive abilities can be traced to the simple fact that the universe is infinitely complex.

By David A. J. Reynolds | February 21, 2018 | Cognition, Economics, Government, Philosophy, Prediction, Society | Brexit, Britain, Certainty, Comprehension, Cosmology, Data, Economics, Elections, Error, Forecasting, Foresight, Freakonomics, Genetic Engineering, Hanna Arendt, Hubris, Ignorance, Infinity, Information, Knowledge, Limitations, Manipulations, Models, Neuroscience, Over-confidence, Philip Tetlock, Polling, Prediction, Reality, Statistics, Stephen Dubner, The Brain, The Universe, Truth, UK, Understanding, Unknowns, Unpredictability, US

Is Democracy Threatened by Chatbots?

Chatbots are becoming more sophisticated both in their ability to process language and gauge emotion. As social media increasingly influences our news and beliefs, this could be a big problem.

By Emily Ludolf | January 31, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Government, Journalism, Knowledge, Politics, Psychology, Security, Society | AI, Bias, Chatbots, Customer Service, Cyberbullying, Democracy, Elections, Fake News, Filter Bubble, Influence, Machine Learning, Microsoft, Natural Language Processing, News, NLP, Opinion, Oxford, Profiling, Propaganda, Psychiatry, Psychology, Russia, Social Media, Targeting, Tay, Therapy, Trolling, Twitter

Podcast #12: Bill Powers on Tech Boundaries and Social Media

Journalist and media critic Bill Powers wrote a bestselling book about stepping away from tech; now he’s on the inside trying to make tech better.

By Mo Lotman | June 14, 2017 | Cognition, Health, Journalism, Media, Philosophy, Podcasts, Psychology, Society, Well-Being | Attention, Boundaries, Busyness, Connectedness, Digital Maximalism, Elections, Hamlet's Blackberry, Internet Sabbath, iPhone, Lab for Social Machines, Media Lab, MIT, Newspapers, Policy, Screen Sabbath, smart phones, Tech Sabbath, The Electome, The Internet, The Washington Post, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter

We Have a Loser: How Polling Undermines Democracy

The first article in an occasional series about prediction. Though it seems ages ago, this month, Senator Ted Cruz ended [...]

By Mo Lotman | May 25, 2016 | Journalism, Media, Politics, Prediction | Bernie Sanders, Boston Globe, CNN, Democracy, Democrat, Donald Trump, Elections, Hilary Clinton, Minority Viewpoints, New York Times, Opinion, Polls, Primaries, Republican, Republican Revolution, Supression, Ted Cruz, Turnout

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