Want Better Data Science? Hire Humanists
Why humanists might be the key to more effective AI.
If you want better data science, hire more humanists. Humanists are schooled in literature, philosophy, ethics, classics, history, culture, language, linguistics and writing. Data humanists mix data fluency with these humanist skills. They might be the missing link to more effective AI and data science.
To paraphrase Erin Waldron in her Nightingale essay,
Data scientists often start with the data at hand; humanists love to ask what’s missing.
Data scientists are trained to be certain; humanists embrace ambiguity.
Data scientists think the data speaks for itself; humanists seek blurry boundaries and interpretation.
Sure, there are leaders with highly technical degrees who value ambiguity, but they’re unicorns. Technical training teaches how to get the “right” answer when many of the richest business questions don’t have one. Erin says of humanists, “To us, the world isn’t just multivariate. It’s like cotton candy: innumerable intricacies swirled into an inextricable knot from which there is no single thread to productively tease out.”
Often, scientists seek certitude: “Just show me the data. Numbers don’t lie. Hard data. Raw data. Big data. Fast data. The data speaks for itself.”
Data humanists are are hybrid roles in FinTech, MarTech, EdTech, HealthTech, BioTech, like:
Product marketing
Sales engineer
Entrepreneurs
Analysts
Becoming a better manager by using data
Customer success
Digital marketing
IT
Operations
Consulting
To do these jobs well today, you need data skills. Data humanists combine the best of sides of the brain — the curious, creative side and the rational decision-making side.
Numbers DO lie. The data does NOT speak for itself. Context, variety, ambiguity, humility, and curiosity reveal the truth. Humanists know this. Hire them to improve data science efforts in 2022.
