Where do ideas come from? How do they get put into action? How can we create social structures that are productive and creative?
If the Big Data revolution has a presiding genius, it is MIT’s Alex Pentland, whose research has led to the creation of more than 30 companies. Yet according to his research, innovation doesn’t come from a few super-bright people; it comes from idea flow, the way ideas are spread.
Thanks to the rise of smartphones, GPS devices, and the internet, the flow of ideas can now be tracked. Sociologists no longer need to rely on surveys or abstract models. With stunning accuracy, social physics allows us to predict ― and improve ― how effective a network is, whether it’s a search-and-rescue operation, a business, or a city. Pentland is the perfect guide through the wonders and challenges of an entirely new way to look at life itself.
Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland directs MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, co-leads the World Economic Forum Big Data and Personal Data initiatives, and is a founding member of the advisory boards for Nissan, Motorola Mobility, and a variety of start-up firms. He helped create and direct MIT’s Media Laboratory, the Media Lab Asia laboratories at the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Strong Hospital’s Center for Future Health. His research group and entrepreneurship program have spun off more than 30 companies to date. In 2012 Forbes named Pentland one of the seven most powerful data scientists in the world.