The Next Net: Reality Mining for Honest Signals

When: 
Thursday, April 29, 2010 - 7:00pm
Room: 
633
Lecturer(s): 
Prof. Alex `Sandy' Pentland, MIT
Prof. Alex `Sandy' Pentland

We have invented the technology of reality mining, which uses sensor data to extract subtle patterns that predict future human behavior. These predictive patterns begin with "honest signals," human behaviors that evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, and which are major factors in human decision making in everything from job interviews to first dates. Management insights based on Honest Signals were Named a "Breakthrough Idea of 2009" by Harvard Business Review. By using data from mobile phones and other electronic devices to track these honest signals, we can create a "god's eye" view of how the people interact, and even "see" the rhythms of interaction for everyone in a city. Business Week declared this new view of human life to be "the next Net" and Newsweek described it as "the next Google."

This meeting is sponsored by the GBC/ACM and IEEE Computer Society.

Professor Alex (“Sandy”) Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy's focus is the development of human-centered technology and the creation of ventures that take this technology into the real world. He directs MIT's Human Dynamics Lab, helping companies become more productive and creative through organizational engineering, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, which helps translate cutting-edge technology into real-world impact around the world. He is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world; in 1997 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.