any dataset begins with somebody deciding to collect the numbers. What numbers are and aren’t collected, what is and isn’t measured, and who is included or excluded are the result of all-too-human assumptions, preconceptions, and oversights.

Premature enumeration is not just an intellectual failure. Not asking what a statistic actually means is a failure of empathy, too.

Big found datasets can seem comprehensive, and may be enormously useful, but “N = All” is often a seductive illusion: it’s easy to make unwarranted assumptions that we have everything that matters.

Does conformity vary in its power depending on who is under pressure to conform to whom?

Be curious. Look deeper and ask questions.

Researchers may not be explicit that an experiment studied only men—such information is sometimes buried in a statistical appendix, and sometimes not reported at all. But often a quick investigation will reveal that the study has a blind spot.

Motivated reasoning is thinking through a topic with the aim, conscious or unconscious, of reaching a particular kind of conclusion.

we should compare the fallibility of today’s algorithms with that of the humans who would otherwise be making the decisions.

One of the reasons facts don’t always change our minds is that we are keen to avoid uncomfortable truths.