Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really

 Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really

"Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really" is a book by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz that explores the ways in which big data can reveal insights into human behavior and society. The book examines how people use the internet to search for information, and how this data can be used to understand their thoughts, feelings, and actions. The author argues that traditional surveys and polls often fail to capture the truth about human behavior, because people are often unwilling or unable to reveal their true thoughts and feelings. However, by analyzing data from the internet, such as Google search queries and social media activity, it is possible to gain a more accurate understanding of what people are really thinking and feeling. The book covers a wide range of topics, including politics, race, gender, sex, and mental health, and provides a unique perspective on how big data can be used to understand human behavior and improve decision making.

"Everybody Lies" is a book written by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a data scientist and former Google economist. The book explores how data from the internet can be used to understand human behavior, and how this data can contradict traditional survey-based research methods. The book covers a wide range of topics, including politics, race, sex, and relationships, and uses data from Google searches, online dating sites, and social media to uncover hidden truths about human behavior. The book argues that the data from the internet can give us a more accurate picture of human behavior than traditional survey methods, and can help us better understand ourselves and our society.

CONTENTS

PART I: DATA, BIG AND SMALL

1. Your Faulty Gut

PART II: THE POWERS OF BIG DATA

2. Was Freud Right?

3. Data Reimagined

Bodies as Data

Words as Data

Pictures as Data

4. Digital Truth Serum

The Truth About Sex

The Truth About Hate and Prejudice

The Truth About the Internet

The Truth About Child Abuse and Abortion

The Truth About Your Facebook Friends

The Truth About Your Customers

Can We Handle the Truth?

5. Zooming In

What’s Really Going On in Our Counties, Cities, and Towns?

How We Fill Our Minutes and Hours

Our Doppelgangers

Data Stories

6. All the World’s a Lab

The ABCs of A/B Testing

Nature’s Cruel—but Enlightening—Experiments

PART III: BIG DATA: HANDLE WITH CARE

7. Big Data, Big Schmata? What It Cannot Do

The Curse of Dimensionality

The Overemphasis on What Is Measurable

8. Mo Data, Mo Problems? What We Shouldn’t Do

The Danger of Empowered Corporations

The Danger of Empowered Governments

Conclusion: How Many People Finish Books?

Acknowledgments

Notes