How Data Happened: Book Talk with Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones

Description

Join us for a book talk with authors Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones, who will discuss their new book How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms, moderated by Liz O'Sullivan. While data involves technology and math, it’s not a black box or monolith we have to obey. It’s an unstable, contingent power struggle among states, corporations, and people. The book is a must-read for data scientists and global citizens alike: it lays out the history and rules of this struggle so we can collectively create a future where data serves our highest goals of humanism and progress. Wiggins and Jones marshal the work of experts to reveal how algorithmic systems reproduce, via automated decisions, systemic inequalities.

Wiggins is a data scientist who developed machine learning methods at Columbia and is chief data scientist at The New York Times. Jones is a historian of science. Their broad and deep expertise and complementary perspectives make them the ideal guides to explain the history of data and its technical, political, and ethical impact on our world.

The first 20 attendees will receive a copy of How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms

Our panel

• Chris Wiggins is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the New York Times’s chief data scientist. He resides in New York City.
• Matthew L. Jones is a professor of history at Princeton University and has been a Guggenheim Fellow. He resides in Princeton.
• Liz O’Sullivan is CEO of Vera, the AI reliability platform. Prior to founding Vera, Liz spent 11 years in NYC startups on the business side of AI companies, managing data operations and all types of commercial functions along the way. Liz has advised many local, federal, and international bodies on approaches to regulating AI, including NYC council, Congress, and the United Nations. Most recently, Liz was appointed to be an inaugural member of the United States’ first National AI Advisory Committee, a federal body tasked with advising the US White House and Congress on how to foster AI adoption and regulate its risks.