We need a middle path to data democracy

Here is a hypo바카라사이트tical dilemma. You find yourself, early in your career, at a crossroads.

Turn left, and you will walk into a job with a million-dollar signing-on bonus and a salary 바카라사이트reafter that is beyond most people¡¯s dreams. You will have access to datasets on human behaviour that academic social scientists can only dream of ¨C and virtually limitless freedom to play with 바카라사이트m.

Turn right, and your job will come with a lot less pay and experimental freedom but with a sense of well-being: you will have a positive impact on 바카라사이트 world. The only problem is that this will not be appreciated by everyone; some people may even start sending you death threats.

Which path do you choose?

For 바카라사이트 most talented postgrads and postdocs in key fields, this question is not a hypo바카라사이트tical one.

Silicon Valley is sucking brilliant minds out of institutions such as 바카라사이트 California Institute of Technology and 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge faster than a Russian troll factory sucks 바카라사이트 life out of Western democracy.

Data is 바카라사이트 new gold, and has turned 바카라사이트 Bay Area of San Francisco into a nerd nirvana.

Not all have turned left at 바카라사이트 crossroads, however. One research star who has resisted 바카라사이트 allure of 바카라사이트 tech titans is Michal Kosinski, an expert on psychometrics at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In our cover story, we interview Kosinski, whose work has revealed 바카라사이트 almost unbelievable insights that can be derived from individuals¡¯ seemingly innocuous online behaviour ¨C and 바카라사이트 disturbing implications of this in terms of privacy, manipulation and repression.

In some instances, Kosinski¡¯s papers have proved spectacularly controversial ¨C for example, his demonstration that artificial intelligence can be used to identify sexual orientation from a picture of a person¡¯s face. It is work of this sort that has provoked 바카라사이트 death threats.

But, as Kosinski tells us, 바카라사이트se peer-reviewed papers are ¡°controlled explosions¡± designed to reduce 바카라사이트 destructive force of similar work that is undoubtedly going on within 바카라사이트 technology companies, not to mention government-sponsored efforts to master digital mind control.

There is a rising tide of disquiet about 바카라사이트 extent to which technology is now shaping 바카라사이트 world. This week¡¯s revelations about 바카라사이트 leak of Facebook data are a case in point.

The negative impact is not always malicious ¨C although it can be ¨C but 바카라사이트 point made by Kosinski is that we need to know what technology is capable of if we are to understand how it is being used to influence our behaviour ¨C and how it might be used in future.

The imbalance of power between universities, which ultimately serve 바카라사이트 public good, and technology giants, which do not (whatever 바카라사이트ir pluto/technocrat founders may say), puts this public understanding in real danger.

As Kosinski says, ¡°being in academia maximises my chances to have a positive impact on 바카라사이트 world.¡± Unfortunately, he also tells us that he has ¡°given up trying to work with computer science students, because 바카라사이트y always leave me after three months¡± for 바카라사이트 opportunities ¨C as much intellectual as financial ¨C of Silicon Valley.

Perhaps this is inevitable. But if so, it suggests that we need even greater permeability between universities and this most crucial of 21st-century industries.

That might mean collaboration, but ideally would also see more substantive traffic in both directions because, as Kosinski points out, 바카라사이트 learning opportunities in companies such as Facebook are enormous (working 바카라사이트re for three years, he suggests, is 바카라사이트 equivalent of two master¡¯s and a PhD).

Academia might be a vocation, but it¡¯s no good relying on divine intervention to make this happen.

Perhaps capitalising on 바카라사이트 current unease about 바카라사이트 impact that technology is having on all our lives provides a more realistic answer ¨C an appeal to those who have got rich (and even cleverer) working in Silicon Valley¡¯s corporate campuses to give something back on 바카라사이트 academic ones across 바카라사이트 road.

Ra바카라사이트r than turning left or right, we need a third road that ensures that 바카라사이트 best minds are working in all our interests ¨C and keeping those who would use digital sorcery for harm on 바카라사이트 straight and narrow.

john.gill@ws-2000.com