On this episode of The Artists of Data Science, we get a chance to hear from Charles Wheelan, a professor, journalist, speaker and author, who holds a PHD in pu

On this episode of The Artists of Data Science, we get a chance to hear from Charles Wheelan, a professor, journalist, speaker and author, who holds a PHD in public policy from the University Chicago. Charles shares his journey into becoming a prolific author, and why he decided to write Naked Economics, Naked Statistics, and so on. He also warns the use of big data and the implications it can have if used improperly. QUOTES [11:56] “Big Data is...a powerful weapon...it really can be put to great effect. Used improperly, you can do some enormous damage.” [36:23] “...if your data reflects some underlying problem, then any model you build from that data will just embed it more firmly in cement.” [48:15] …”stop thinking about what you're doing and look around the world and see what's missing” FIND CHARLES ONLINE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-wheelan-a6220911/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-wheelan-a6220911/ Website: http://www.nakedeconomics.com/ http://www.nakedeconomics.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharlesWheelan https://twitter.com/CharlesWheelan SHOW NOTES [00:06:51] What is economics? [00:09:19] Does big data impact how economics works? [00:11:21] Does big data change how the invisible hand works? [00:12:35] What is money and why does it matter? [00:16:43] Money in a world of contactless payments [00:18:18] The impact of digital currencies on society [00:20:15] Money and intersubjective reality [00:21:22] How to use statistics to make business work better [00:23:12] Which form of bias should we be most wary of? [00:24:40] How will COVID affect the election [00:37:19] Charles Wheelan predicted COVID in his book The Rationing [00:37:37] Draw parallels between the fiction you wrote and the reality that we're experiencing today [00:39:03] How he came up with the story for The Rationing [00:41:07] Which aspect of human nature do you think from your fiction has shown itself to become a reality with our current situation? [00:43:18] What's the one thing you want people to learn from this story? [00:44:35] The lightning round