School of Social and Political Science

Description

Abstract:

We have long known that numbers and statistical concepts sit at the center of how objective, reliable knowledge is made in the contemporary world. Yet subjectivity remains crucial to understanding the spread of statistical concepts, not just in the theoretical underpinnings of "subjectivist" interpretations but also in the way statistical methods have proven useful for navigating the particular "problems" of the sciences of subjectivity. By examining and juxtaposing the rise of biostatistics within clinical medicine and of sports analytics, this talk asks how and why statistical methods originally developed for the aggregate came to be used to make judgments about individuals, and in so doing aims to provide a better understanding of the roots of the current dominance of data science and statistically-driven algorithms.

Speaker Bio:

John H. Evans is the Tata Chancellor’s Chair in Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, Associate Dean of the Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at the University of California, San Diego.  He is the author of six books and over 60 articles examining science, bioethics and religion.  His most recent book is The Human Gene Editing Debate (2020, Oxford University Press).