The Economist’s Data Editor on Data Fetishism

Ken Cukier

“We fetishize data, we think that data is the answer. It’s far from the truth. In fact, it’s ridiculous, because the data is only a simulacrum of reality in the same way that a map is not a territory. And so while we need to use information and data to make decisions as we need to do, the data is always unfaithful, always unreliable, it always misleads, and you have to torture it until it confesses”–Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor, The Economist

Source: Economist Radio, “Arthur Miller and Modern-Day Witch-Hunts”