His concept was that certain ideas shaped the development of society in a regular manner. One of the creators of the mit media lab and currently the director of the mit connection science and human dynamics labs, pentland studies social physics, which takes a datacentric view of culture and society. How social networks can make us smarter ebook written by alex pentland. How social networks can make us smarter 9780143126331. Understanding, predicting and influencing human behavior has been the goal of social scientists and leaders anywhere since the beginning of time. How social networks can make us smarter, by alex pentland is much advised. Sandy pentland has been doing fascinating research for decades now, from early wearable computing through his previous. 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. Alex pentland is a high praised academic from mit in the domain of big data, but this book is not about research, neither about.
Social physics we are coming to realize that human behaviour is determined as much by the patterns of our culture as by rational, individual thinking. These patterns can be described mathematically, and used to make accurate predictions prof. Sandy pentland, mit professor, on how big data is revealing the science behind how we work together, based on his book social. Social physics, alex pentland 9781922247551 boeken. Peter gabriel, musician pentlands insights make human behaviour less mysterious, but more amazing. His research helps people better understand the physics of their social environment, and helps individuals, companies and communities to reinvent themselves to be safer, more productive, and more creative. Social physics offers a crash course in the new selfdeclared field of science.
I must confess, as a lapsed physicist, the title swung it for me, but i learned a lot from this book. If the big data revolution has a presiding genius, it is mits alex pentland. 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. Review social physics young upstarts young upstarts. Social physics is a fascinating look at a new field by one of its principal geeks. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science. Social physics 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. Alex sandy pentland on the social physics of wellbeing. How good ideas spreadthe lessons from a new science by pentland, alex isbn. 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. It is largely, but not exclusively, about the flow of ideas between individuals taken from large datasets of telephone and actual mobility, talk, and other residue of human behaviour. How good ideas spreadthe lessons from a new science proposes a new theory of human social interaction. Social physics will change the way we think about how we learn and how our social groups work and can be made to work better, at every level of society. But their skepticism seems to have eluded alex pentland, director of the.
Professor alex sandy pentland directs mit connection science, an mitwide initiative, and previously helped create and direct the mit media lab and the media lab asia in india. Alex sandy pentland is among the most influential thought leaders in a new field that is called social physics, a name coined two centuries ago by auguste comte, the creator of sociology. In this video i provide a brief overview of what youll learn by reading this book. How social networks can make us smarter, by alex pentland right here, in the. Social physics alex pentland 9781594205651 netgalley.
Alex sandy pentland is founding faculty director of the mit connection science research initiative, which uses network science to access and change realworld human behavior, and is the toshiba professor of media, arts, and sciences at the massachusetts institute of technology mit. Social physics and the data driven society national academies. Social physics is a metaphor sandy pentland adopts to embrace a class of data science research. How good ideas spreadthe lessons from a new science pentland takes time out to catch us up on his findings. How can we create social structures that are productive and creative. Pentlands social physics is a major contribution to this field.
Drawing upon his work and book, social physics, professor alex sandy pentland offers proven technological, managerial and organizational prescriptions to increase beneficial social communication and information flow in a workfromhome world. Pentlands research focuses on social physics, big data, and privacy. I came to this book after reading shoshana zuboffs surveillance. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science was published in the december 2014 issue of physics world which can be accessed here if you sign up for free alex sandy pentland is a computer scientist with an impressive academic record and an even more impressive history of translating academic outputs into business and. I came to this book after reading shoshana zuboffs surveillance capital. A particular flavour of social physics sociable physics. By using communication tracking analysis and occasionally human sensors along with big data, he and his team are evolving a new discipline with a unique taxonomy and ontology that brings a higher level of quantification and rigor to a challenging and inherently complex field. Popular reading about sociophysics include english physicist philip ball s why society is a complex matter, 15 dirk helbing s the automation of society is next or american physicist lazlo. 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. It explores the new data science of social modeling for improving organizational behavior in companies, cities. Sandy pentland, mit professor, on how big data is revealing the science behind how we work together, based on his book social physics. It asks questions about how we can best use the treasure troves of data available to companies and researchers today to better understand human interaction and social organization, and hopefully create a better society. One of pentlandss main findings thus far has to do with the importance of social interaction in influencing our behavior. Recent books about social physics include mit professor alex pentlands book social physics or nature editor mark buchanans book the social atom.
Using millions of data points measured over a long period of time in real settings, which pentland calls living laboratories, the author has monitored human behavior on an unprecedented scale pentland s research also offers lessons for policymakers and business people. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science, alex sandy pentland, the toshiba professor of media arts and sciences and the director of the human dynamics laboratory, draws all that research together into a new theory of human social interaction, which he then applies to questions of. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science, alex sandy pentland, the toshiba professor of. How social networks can make us smarter, by alex pentland. Social physics can change your company and the world.
Social physics is a label made by auguste comte 165 years ago to designate a new understanding of human behavior and society system of relationships. For everybody, if you want to begin joining with others to check out a book, this social physics. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science, alex sandy pentland, the toshiba professor of media arts and sciences and the director of the. How good ideas spread the lessons from a new science by alex pentland the penguin press, 2014 sensor rich mobile devices meet big data. My christmas reading, based on a recommendation from someone attending a book launch in the us last month thanks whoever you were all a bit of a blur now was alex pentlands social physics. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. 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 can we create social structures that are productive and.
Using millions of data points measured over a long period of time in real settings, which pentland calls living laboratories, the author has monitored human behavior on an unprecedented scalepentlands research also offers lessons for policymakers and business people. Director of the human dynamics laboratory, pentlands book social physics. Social physics is filled with rich findings about what makes people tick. Pentland leads listeners to the edge of the most important revolution in the study of social behavior in a generation, an entirely new way to. Clay shirky, author of cognitive surplus and here comes everybody sandy pentland lives in the future and it shows. If the big data revolution has a presiding genius, it is mits alex sandy pentland.
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