Social physics: quantitative science describing human behavior.
Begin by understanding core models for human behavior and how they can be seen in data, especially as more and more data about people are available.
Compare with social science, which has insights into human character, but it is usually neither quantitative nor predictive; big data means we can build predictive, quantitative models of human behavior.
Can determine the amount of social learning i.e. rate of idea flow, and that is important because learning from each other makes us smarter.
The core problem is we do not know how to manage ourselves or to integrate our ideas, opinions, and views into the making and implementing of decisions.
This is where social physics and big data can help.
It represents a big change as we can now observe people and predict what they will do.
The inspiration comes from things that don’t work very well e.g. schools, organizations.
Your digital self should have the same rights as the physical self e.g. you get to control your data, who gets access.
We should make the social networks mirror the way humans like to operate and how people operate best – it is not through competition but through trusted networks.
How can we make a digital society that works for humans i.e. fair, safe, inclusive etc.
The world feels so complex and everything is happening so quickly: how can we understand and control what is happening so that we can build a better world?
We now have data about all sorts of things: corporations, people, purchases, entertainment etc
We finally have enough data to build a mathematical theory of human social life; a theory of social physics.
It is physics because it resembles traditional physics: in traditional physics, energy turns into motion; in social physics, it is not energy but new ideas.
Instalment 1: Overview