Data Objectivity Quotes

Algorithms are opinions embedded in code. It’s really different from what you think most people think of algorithms. They think algorithms are objective and true and scientific. That’s a marketing trick. It’s also a marketing trick to intimidate you with algorithms, to make you trust and fear algorithms because you trust and fear mathematics. A lot can go wrong when we put blind faith in big data.

Listen: women lie, men lie, but numbers don't lie, guy.

Data and data sets are not objective; they are creations of human design. We give numbers their voice, draw inferences from them, and define their meaning through our interpretations.

Women lie, men lie, numbers don't.

Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.

Numbers can't speak for themselves, and data sets - no matter their scale - are still objects of human design.

Numbers don't lie. Women lie, men lie, but numbers don't lie.

The promoters of big data would like us to believe that behind the lines of code and vast databases lie objective and universal insights into patterns of human behavior, be it consumer spending, criminal or terrorist acts, healthy habits, or employee productivity. But many big-data evangelists avoid taking a hard look at the weaknesses.

Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.

Whether or not I like a piece of data has very little bearing on whether or not I am likely to accept it.

The value of having numbers - data - is that they aren't subject to someone else's interpretation. They are just the numbers. You can decide what they mean for you.

scientists ... resist ... making more of the data than the data make of themselves.