The TED-talk recommendation of today is about data and how it can be used. In a nutshell, it’s a choice between Big Brother watching you and you watching Big Brother. Susan Etlinger want us to not become passive consumers of data and technology. She believe that we shape the role it plays in our lives and the way we make meaning from it, but to do that, we have to pay as much attention to how we think as how we code.

For example analyzing big data from language. We must remind ours selves that language is created by people, and people are messy and we’re complex and we use metaphors and slang and jargon and we do this 24/7 in many, many languages,and then as soon as we figure it out, we change it up.

Does a set of data make you feel more comfortable? More successful? Then your interpretation of it is likely wrong. In a surprisingly moving talk, Susan Etlinger explains why, as we receive more and more data, we need to deepen our critical thinking skills. Because it’s hard to move beyond counting things to really understanding them.