Framers

The breakout bestselling authors of Big Data now turn to what data can't accomplish: the power of human ingenuity and ability to frame new questions to get better results than anyone could have previously imagined.

Don't just think deep, think wide.

From pandemics to populism, AI to ISIS, wealth inequity to climate change, humanity faces unprecedented challenges that threaten our very existence. But how we see them affects how we respond and lets us uncover hidden options that expand our thinking.

In this bold, optimistic book, theauthors of the bestselling Big Data show how humans have a unique cognitive ability to frame - to create mental models that allow us to spot patterns, make predictions and grasp new situations. While computers may now excel at reasoning and judgement, framing is unique to humans. This book is the first guide to mastering an essential skill for the 21st century.

Blending fascinating stories with cutting-edge research, you'll discover why it's useless to try to think outside the box, how Spotify beat Apple by framing music as experience, how the #metoo movement reframed the perception of sexual assault from silence to solidarity, and how framing Covid-19 as seasonal flu led to disaster whereas framing it as SARS delivered New Zealand from the pandemic.

Framers will show you how to make better decisions in the age of algorithms, and will revolutionise not only how we think about our future, but how we think about everything.

About the Authors

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Viktor and his work have been featured in (among others) the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Economist, Nature, Science, BBC and Wired Magazine. He is also on the boards of foundations, think tanks and organizations focused on studying the information economy, and advises governments, businesses and NGOs on new economy and information society issues.

Kenneth Cukier is a Senior Editor at The Economist, and host of its weekly tech podcast Babbage. He is also an associate fellow at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, researching artificial intelligence. His TED Talk on AI and data has over 1 million views. Kenn was a foreign correspondent for two decades in Europe, Asia and America and was also a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Financial Times and Foreign Affairs, among others. He has appeared as a commentator on CBS, CNN, NPR, the BBC and was a member of the World Economic Forum’s global council on data-driven development and currently sits on the board of Chatham House and is a member on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Francis de Véricourt is Professor of Management Science at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. His current research explores how machine learning affects the way individuals frame their decisions and give rise to incentive problems. He has lived and worked in France, USA, Germany and Singapore. He has given talks at Yale University, Wharton School of Business, London Business School, Cambridge University, Tsinghua University, Singapore National University and many others, and has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards.