#90 César Hidalgo: How To Understand Sociotechnical Systems
Jul 23, 2021
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César Hidalgo, an expert in economic complexity and data visualization, discusses topics including visual thinking, great data visualization, judging machines, and making books open source in this engaging podcast.
Visual thinking is an important tool for communicating complex ideas and facilitating understanding.
Humans tend to judge machines based on outcomes rather than intentions, leading to stricter judgment in scenarios involving harm or unfairness.
The podcast explores the role of information in various systems, emphasizing the importance of knowledge accumulation in networks for creating complex products and ideas.
Deep dives
The importance of understanding the future vision
The podcast episode focuses on clarifying what a good future looks like in the face of societal transitions. The speaker interviews experts to gain insights into emerging trends and technologies that can contribute to a positive future vision.
The power of visual thinking
The guest, Cesar Hidalgo, emphasizes the significance of visual thinking in his work. He utilizes visuals to communicate complex ideas that can be difficult to express through writing alone. Visuals help tap into parallel thinking and enable comparisons, facilitating better communication and understanding.
How humans judge machines differently from humans
The podcast episode discusses research on how humans tend to judge machines differently from humans. The study finds that people often judge machines through a consequentialist lens, focusing on the outcome rather than intention. This leads to stricter judgment of machines in scenarios involving harm or unfairness.
The implications of judgment based on intention or outcome
The podcast explores the implications of judging humans based on intention and machines based on outcome. It raises questions about whether governance should be judged primarily by intentions or outcomes, highlighting the challenges of measuring outcomes, especially in political contexts.
The connection between information, knowledge, and networks
The podcast dives into how information is crucial in various systems, from physical to social scales. It discusses the role of knowledge accumulation in networks as a means to process information effectively and create complex products and ideas. The book 'Why Information Grows' is recommended as a resource to delve further into this topic.
César Hidalgo is a Chilean-Spanish-American scholar in economic complexity, data visualization, and applied artificial intelligence. He’s written some great books that we chat about today like Why Information Grows and How Humans Judge Machines.
https://cesarhidalgo.com/
https://twitter.com/cesifoti
https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark
https://www.roote.co/
https://patreon.com/rhyslindmark
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
2:10 How to represent ideas visually
5:45 What makes something a great visualization?
7:30 What is the through-line of your work?
10:30 How the printing press changed who can be famous
13:20 What messages are optimized for the internet?
16:30 Using the internet for governance
22:10 What are new network-native institutions?
26:55 How Humans Judge Machines?
31:20 Judging institutions on intentions vs. outcomes
36:30 How do humans judge machines on Haidt's moral foundations?
41:20 How did you give the book away for free as a pdf?
46:00 Connecting the physics of information to the geography of knowledge
51:30 Check out Center for Collective Learning
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