The Next Net: Building A Nervous System for Society

 

ALEXANDER PENTLAND

HUMAN DYNAMICS GROUP, DIRECTOR

 

In the last decade my research group has built and deployed sensor networks that provide continuous, detailed descriptions of human communities, including gesture, voice, mobility, email, eating, political, health, productivity, and financial behaviors. Statistical analysis of these digital records allow us to create a surprisingly comprehensive picture of our individual and collective lives. We have built computational models based on this data, using techniques drawn from signal processing, and have demonstrated that we can make accurate prediction of future behaviors and important outcomes. These comutational behavior models are consistent with evolution theory and the systems biology view of the human species. We are now beginning to use these models to transform many areas of human life, including public health, customer relationship management, and government, by using them to form a sort of digital nervous system for society.