<p>Where do ideas come from? How do they get put into action? How can we create social structures that are productive and creative?\nIf the Big Data revolution has a presiding genius, it is MIT’s Alex Pentland. Over years of groundbreaking experiments, he has distilled remarkable discoveries that have become the bedrock of a new scientific field: social physics. This revolutionary science shows that innovation doesn’t come from a few exceptionally bright people, but from the flow of ideas — especially how our social networks spread ideas and turn those ideas into behaviours.\nThanks to the rise of smartphones, GPS devices, and the internet, Pentland and his teams can study patterns of information exchange in a social network, without any knowledge of the content of the information. Using this data, they can tell with stunning accuracy how effective that network is, whether it’s a business or an entire city. Pentland shows us how to fine-tune these networks to improve their performance — for instance, by maximising a group’s collective intelligence, or by using social incentives to work through disruptive change.\nSocial Physics will change the way we think about how we learn and how our social groups work — and can be made to work better, at every level of society. It is an entirely new way to look at life itself.</p>

Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread - The Lessons From A New Science

Alex Pentland

Science & Math

Scribe Publications

<p>Where do ideas come from? How do they get put into action? How can we create social structures that are productive and creative? If the Big Data revolution has a presiding genius, it is MIT's Alex Pentland, whose research has led to the creation of more than 30 companies. Yet according to his research, innovation doesn't come from a few super-bright people; it comes from idea flow, the way ideas are spread. Thanks to the rise of smartphones, GPS devices, and the internet, the flow of ideas can now be tracked. Sociologists no longer need to rely on surveys or abstract models. With stunning accuracy, social physics allows us to predict - and improve - how effective a network is, whether it's a search-and-rescue operation, a business, or a city. Pentland is the perfect guide through the wonders and challenges of an entirely new way to look at life itself.</p>

Social Physics: how good ideas spread - the lessons from a new science

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alex Pentland. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Alex Pentland

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alex Pentland. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread - The Lessons From A New Science

Social Physics: how good ideas spread - the lessons from a new science