In the frame?

Book: Framers: Human Advantage in an Age of Technology and Turmoil
Author(s): Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Francis de Vericourt
Published by: Penguin

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier are the authors of Big Data, publicised in 2013 as 'a revolution that will transform how we think, work and live'. For this volume they are joined by Francis de Véricourt to reassure us readers that 'big data' should be seen as merely an aide, and not the route (via 'artificial intelligence') to humans becoming obsolete. That's because only humans that can 'frame' – create options by mentally modelling alternate realities.

As a foundation, readers are treated to a roll call of great thinkers or innovators, re-defined as 'framers'. We travel from Descartes, via Pasteur and Lister as they worked on sterile environments, Einstein and Newton, the flying Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart, through to more modern times, Jobs of Apple, Musk of Tesla, Bezos of Amazon, even Kamprad the founder of IKEA. All are described as framers, more specifically re-framers – taking an established paradigm and re-modelling it, in these cases to create a new business model. I would have included Bob Dylan in the list, with framing captured in his lyric 'we just saw it from a different point of view'.

To successfully frame in this way requires an understanding of causality, and an imagination of alternate realities, termed counterfactuals by the authors. Yet such thinking must be disciplined, constrained within realistic boundaries, not totally freewheeling (Dylan again).

It is refreshing that the authors actively promote a true diversity of views, as pluralism relies on us interacting with those that we disagree with. They cynically suggest a comedian achieved professional success by being blocked on Twitter by Trump! Their concern for the future seems to be that societal debates have shifted from the people to professional politicians and media influencers. The direct democracy of active personal participation has been handed over by proxy to 'professionals'. I wonder what the authors would have made of the recent Roe v Wade case, or the recent shenanigans to anoint a new British Prime Minister. Perhaps these are the horrors they suggest can be the outcome of badly framed models being used in the wrong way.

The risk, it would seem, is that we may devolve our thinking – or worse, our decision making – to artificial intelligence, e.g. 'computer says no', setting aside our uniquely human ability of reasoning or imagination. The authors issue a warning that if we give up good framing, we lose our privileged position in what I would term the human/environmental dualism. We are possibly already on the back foot in that, as we battle to neutralise the harm we have caused. Bill Gates neatly frames it in 'How to avoid a climate disaster'.

Read the book, if for no other reason than to take advantage of the three-page guide to working with frames. Seeking dissent rather than confirmation of your ideas, and where possible thinking beyond yourself, would seem to be most important.

Reviewed by Barry Morgan, a BPS member based in Palma de Mallorca.