Alex Pentland

From one of the worlds leading data scientists, a landmark tour of the new science of idea flow, offering revolutionary insights into the mysteries of collective intelligence and social influence If the Big Data revolution has a presiding genius, it is MITs Alex Sandy Pentland. Over years of groundbreaking experiments, he has distilled remarkable discoveries significant enough to become the bedrock of a whole new scientific field: social physics. Humans have more in common with bees than we like to admit: Were social creatures first and foremost. Our most important habits of actionand most basic notions of common senseare wired into us through our coordination in social groups. Social physics is about idea flow, the way human social networks spread ideas and transform those ideas into behaviors. Thanks to the millions of digital bread crumbs people leave behind via smartphones, GPS devices, and the Internet, the amount of new information we have about human activity is truly profound. Until now, sociologists have depended on limited data sets and surveys that tell us how people say they think and behave, rather than what they actually do. As a result, weve been stuck with the same stale social structuresclasses, marketsand a focus on individual actors, data snapshots, and steady states. Pentland shows that, in fact, humans respond much more powerfully to social incentives that involve rewarding others and strengthening the ties that bind than incentives that involve only their own economic self-interest. Pentland and his teams have found that they can study patterns of information exchange in a social network without any knowledge of the actual content of the information and predict with stunning accuracy how productive and effective that network is, whether its a business or an entire city. We can maximize a groups collective intelligence to improve performance and use social incentives to create new organizations and guide them through disruptive change in a way that maximizes the good. At every level of interaction, from small groups to large cities, social networks can be tuned to increase exploration and engagement, thus vastly improving idea flow. Social Physics will change the way we think about how we learn and how our social groups workand can be made to work better, at every level of society. Pentland leads readers to the edge of the most important revolution in the study of social behavior in a generation, an entirely new way to look at life itself.

How to empower people and communities with user centric data ownership transparent and accountable algorithms and secure digital transaction systems Data is now central to the economy government and health systems so why are data and the AI systems that interpret the data in the hands of so few people Building the New Economy calls for us to reinvent the ways that data and artificial intelligence are used in civic and government systems Arguing that we need to think about data as a new type of capital the authors show that the use of data trusts and distributed ledgers can empower people and communities with user centric data ownership transparent and accountable algorithms machine learning fairness principles and methodologies and secure digital transaction systems It s well known that social media generate disinformation and that mobile phone tracking apps threaten privacy But these same technologies may also enable the creation of more agile systems in which power and decision making are distributed among stakeholders rather than concentrated in a few hands Offering both big ideas and detailed blueprints the authors describe such key building blocks as data cooperatives tokenized funding mechanisms and tradecoin architecture They also discuss techn

Los grupos de animales toman decisiones conjuntas, comunicándose entre ellos mucha información por medio de actitudes, sonidos, gestos... cuando los humanos evolucionamos hasta emplear el lenguaje para compartir informacion, este otro sistema de comunicacion social no desaparecio. Las investigaciones del profesor Pentland demuestran no solo su existencia, sino tambien que este tipo de informacion tiene tanto valor para nosotros que incluso prevalece sobre la informacion linguistica, aunque no seamos conscientes de ella.Este libro cuenta como el MIT ha desarrollado herramientas y metodos para medir estas señales y convertirlas en informacion manejable. Con ella pueden establecerse patrones de comportamiento y predecirse conductas individuales y de grupos.Señales honestas es el resultado de una disciplina nueva y emergente, llamada ciencia de las redes, que intenta entender a las personas en el contexto de sus redes sociales en lugar de considerarlas como individuos aislados.Tal vez la consciencia no sea tan importante como tendemos a creer. Quiza necesitemos reexaminar nuestras suposiciones sobre el rol que juegan tanto las fuerzas conscientes como las inconscientes en la configuracion de nuestras conductas cotidianas. La informacion de nuestros sociometros apoya la idea de que gran parte de la conducta humana es automatica o esta determinada por procesos inconscientes.

How to build a flourishing society by using what we know about human nature to design our technologyrather than let technology shape our society.In Shared Wisdom, Alex Pentland delves into the history of innovation, emphasizing the importance of understanding how technologies and cultural inventions impact human society. Humanitys great leaps forwardthe rise of civilizations, the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolutionwere all propelled by cultural inventions that accelerated our rate of innovation and built collective wisdom. Solving current global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and failing social institutions will require similarly fundamental inventions.Shared Wisdom provides a unique perspective on human society and offers insights into how we can use technologies like digital media and AI to aid, rather than replace, our human capacity for deliberation. Drawing on his expertise in both social science and technology, the author bridges the gap between these two disciplines and offers a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities we face in the age of AI. By looking deep into our history, Pentland argues that the better we understand the key factors that accelerate cultural evolution, the greater our chances of surmounting our current problems.

How to empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, and secure digital transaction systems. Data is now central to the economy, government, and health systemsso why are data and the AI systems that interpret the data in the hands of so few people? Building the New Economy calls for us to reinvent the ways that data and artificial intelligence are used in civic and government systems. Arguing that we need to think about data as a new type of capital, the authors show that the use of data trusts and distributed ledgers can empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, machine learning fairness principles and methodologies, and secure digital transaction systems. Its well known that social media generate disinformation and that mobile phone tracking apps threaten privacy. But these same technologies may also enable the creation of more agile systems in which power and decision-making are distributed among stakeholders rather than concentrated in a few hands. Offering both big ideas and detailed blueprints, the authors describe such key building blocks as data cooperatives, tokenized funding mechanisms, and tradecoin architecture. They also discuss technical issues, including how to build an ecosystem of trusted data, the implementation of digital currencies, and interoperability, and consider the evolution of computational law systems.

How understanding the signaling within social networks can change the way we make decisions, work with others, and manage organizations.How can you know when someone is bluffing? Paying attention? Genuinely interested? The answer, writes Alex Pentland in Honest Signals, is that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based honest signaling, evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. If we understand this ancient channel of communication, Pentland claims, we can accurately predict the outcomes of situations ranging from job interviews to first dates.Pentland, an MIT professor, has used a specially designed digital sensor worn like an ID badgea sociometerto monitor and analyze the back-and-forth patterns of signaling among groups of people. He and his researchers found that this second channel of communication, revolving not around words but around social relations, profoundly influences major decisions in our liveseven though we are largely unaware of it. Pentland presents the scientific background necessary for understanding this form of communication, applies it to examples of group behavior in real organizations, and shows how by reading our social networks we can become more successful at pitching an idea, getting a job, or closing a deal. Using this network intelligence theory of social signaling, Pentland describes how we can harness the intelligence of our social network to become better managers, workers, and communicators.