Great breakdown. I tend to come down on the side of Good charts should make it hard to draw bad conclusions. Just like good tools should make it hard to make known mistakes (a diesel nozzle does not fit on a gasoline car ).
Despite that I also see a world where we have tools that non experts can reach for to critically interrogate charts. Agents!
Yes! I think another element to consider is agency. There will always be poorly constructed data messages out there in the world. If people learn the right skills, they can more easily spot issues.
Great reflections once again Enrico. To what extent do you believe these skills can be substituted with AI moderating content? That may pose a whole different set of challenges, but my point is: in the future, to what extent do we still need our professional judgement, or can we outsource that critical thinking to AI as well?
Happy to play my part in educating people on this topic; your posts about misleadingness have inspired me to include this (with proper reference) in my training on data viz and data storytelling. My angle is mostly on the visualizer; as the people in my trainings are the analysts creating visuals.
The honest answer is that I really don't know. Maybe AI will help people reason with data more effectively. Who knows ... In any case, these are timeless skills, and I feel like everyone can benefit from learning them. It's a bit like any other discipline. Do we need to learn math if perfect AI can do math for us?
Great breakdown. I tend to come down on the side of Good charts should make it hard to draw bad conclusions. Just like good tools should make it hard to make known mistakes (a diesel nozzle does not fit on a gasoline car ).
Despite that I also see a world where we have tools that non experts can reach for to critically interrogate charts. Agents!
Yes! I think another element to consider is agency. There will always be poorly constructed data messages out there in the world. If people learn the right skills, they can more easily spot issues.
Great reflections once again Enrico. To what extent do you believe these skills can be substituted with AI moderating content? That may pose a whole different set of challenges, but my point is: in the future, to what extent do we still need our professional judgement, or can we outsource that critical thinking to AI as well?
Happy to play my part in educating people on this topic; your posts about misleadingness have inspired me to include this (with proper reference) in my training on data viz and data storytelling. My angle is mostly on the visualizer; as the people in my trainings are the analysts creating visuals.
The honest answer is that I really don't know. Maybe AI will help people reason with data more effectively. Who knows ... In any case, these are timeless skills, and I feel like everyone can benefit from learning them. It's a bit like any other discipline. Do we need to learn math if perfect AI can do math for us?
Agreed. critical thinking is and will (probably ánd hopefully) remain a key skill.