Samuel Arbesman
Author of The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date
Works by Samuel Arbesman
The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World―and Shapes Our Future (2025) 20 copies
Overcomplicated — Author — 1 copy
Associated Works
This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking (Edge Question Series) (2012) — Contributor — 899 copies, 17 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- ca. 1985
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- Samuel Arbesman is a complexity scientist, whose work focuses on the nature of scientific and technological change. He is currently a Senior Adjunct Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado; Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation; Visiting Scholar in Philosophy at the University of Kansas; and an Associate of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.
Arbesman’s training is in complexity science, computational biology, and applied mathematics. His scientific research has been cited widely and has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His essays about science, mathematics, and technology have appeared in such places as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. Arbesman is the author of the award-winning The Half-Life of Facts (Current/Penguin, 2012), which explores how knowledge changes over time.
Previously, Arbesman was a Senior Scholar at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a Research Fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. He completed a PhD in computational biology at Cornell University in 2008, and earned a BA in computer science and biology at Brandeis University in 2004.
http://www.arbesman.net/about/ - Nationality
- USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Complexity is . . . complex. Arbesman uses this short book to try and untangle it a little and he mostly succeeds. Want to know why you can't understand the tax code? Why your computer always crashes as the most inopportune times? Arbesman's the guy for you.
He stumbles a little near the end - when he advocates for more generalists, my heart screams yes, but my head says "Try putting that on a resume." I can't see it anytime soon, is what I'm saying. My review is based on an advance show more uncorrected proof. show less
He stumbles a little near the end - when he advocates for more generalists, my heart screams yes, but my head says "Try putting that on a resume." I can't see it anytime soon, is what I'm saying. My review is based on an advance show more uncorrected proof. show less
I found this short book a refreshing take on technology and its impact on our lives. It was neither doomsday scenario nor rose-colored glasses in perspective. The author posits that we are now at a point in technological development that makes knowing exactly how everything works impossible. Even those who create the code and build the machines know everything about how it all works.
He takes what feels to me to be a very Zen approach to technology. It is not possible to create software show more without bugs and sometimes the bugs are built-in. You could debug it, but it might bring the entire system crashing down. We also don’t have to know everything in detail and a generalist approach would be more beneficial. We should know a little bit about a lot of things so we can see how the systems fit together.
In the final chapter, the author invites the reader to walk humbly with technology. Perhaps there is no way to know everything and that is okay, even a preferable approach. He states “…we must work to maintain two opposing states: mystery without wonder and wonder without mystery. The first requires that we strive to eliminate our ignorance, rather than simply reveling in it. And the second means that once we understand something, we do not take it for granted” (p. 173). show less
He takes what feels to me to be a very Zen approach to technology. It is not possible to create software show more without bugs and sometimes the bugs are built-in. You could debug it, but it might bring the entire system crashing down. We also don’t have to know everything in detail and a generalist approach would be more beneficial. We should know a little bit about a lot of things so we can see how the systems fit together.
In the final chapter, the author invites the reader to walk humbly with technology. Perhaps there is no way to know everything and that is okay, even a preferable approach. He states “…we must work to maintain two opposing states: mystery without wonder and wonder without mystery. The first requires that we strive to eliminate our ignorance, rather than simply reveling in it. And the second means that once we understand something, we do not take it for granted” (p. 173). show less
This turns out to be a fairly timely read as we find ourselves awash in allegations of alternative facts and half-truths and fake news and whatever sobriquet is currently being bandied about to provide a basis for denial. However, don’t even think that this is a political book. It has no ax to grind; agenda to support; or closed-door, smoke-filled-room, fingers-crossed handshake decisions to prop up.
Instead, Samuel Arbesman has written a well-researched book on how facts come into being show more and how they deteriorate over time. And it also explains why there is nothing wrong with this deterioration – it is the nature of facts that, as we learn more, our understanding changes…if we allow those updates to what we know make a difference in our beliefs and opinions.
The book lays out how “facts” are discovered and how our ability to learn and apply more rigor to situations allows us to better understand the world in which we live. Much like Moore’s law regarding the growth in computation speed, there is a similar exponential growth in our learning in specific areas, and that means yesterday’s facts are no longer quite as true as we once thought.
And Arbesman makes the case that this further understanding is not meant to denigrate the work that has gone before; rather it is proof of our constant ability to grow our understanding on the shoulders of those who have come before.
Once this is all laid out, Arbesman then explores the human side of facts, including why we tend to “adhere to out-of-date information well after it has lost its truth.” (For example, no frog in his right mind will stay in a pot where the temperature is slowly rising. The frog will jump out, contrary to what many of us believe.) This section is particularly enlightening in relation to today’s situations where people do not want to accept facts that contradict their understanding of the world. (Sorry, that include climate change deniers – my only political comment in this whole review.)
The book succeeds at many levels. It is an excellent history lesson about the way things are discovered and refuted, it provides an excellent understanding about the rate of change (think of any doctor who, ten years after beginning practice, has had to practically relearn his craft), and it provides insights into the way people think – good and bad.
If I have any one quibble, it is that much of the research that supports these contentions has to do with the citing of academic research. The work is rigorous and may well be one of the few ways to objectively support what Arbesman is saying. But, as a non-academician, I couldn’t completely relate with the findings, and was slightly fatigued by the constant references.
However, those studies do help paint a fascinating picture of the way information and facts are transmitted and they provide a solid basis for much of what Arbesman is saying. In addition, these studies are not the only sources Arbesman uses, which helps maintain the credibility of what he has to say.
Perhaps most importantly, Arbesman succeeds in supporting the contention of the book’s subtitle. Everything we know does, indeed, have an expiration date. That is not a bad thing, as long as we are aware of it. And Arbesman’s book will help every reader become just a little bit more aware. show less
Instead, Samuel Arbesman has written a well-researched book on how facts come into being show more and how they deteriorate over time. And it also explains why there is nothing wrong with this deterioration – it is the nature of facts that, as we learn more, our understanding changes…if we allow those updates to what we know make a difference in our beliefs and opinions.
The book lays out how “facts” are discovered and how our ability to learn and apply more rigor to situations allows us to better understand the world in which we live. Much like Moore’s law regarding the growth in computation speed, there is a similar exponential growth in our learning in specific areas, and that means yesterday’s facts are no longer quite as true as we once thought.
And Arbesman makes the case that this further understanding is not meant to denigrate the work that has gone before; rather it is proof of our constant ability to grow our understanding on the shoulders of those who have come before.
Once this is all laid out, Arbesman then explores the human side of facts, including why we tend to “adhere to out-of-date information well after it has lost its truth.” (For example, no frog in his right mind will stay in a pot where the temperature is slowly rising. The frog will jump out, contrary to what many of us believe.) This section is particularly enlightening in relation to today’s situations where people do not want to accept facts that contradict their understanding of the world. (Sorry, that include climate change deniers – my only political comment in this whole review.)
The book succeeds at many levels. It is an excellent history lesson about the way things are discovered and refuted, it provides an excellent understanding about the rate of change (think of any doctor who, ten years after beginning practice, has had to practically relearn his craft), and it provides insights into the way people think – good and bad.
If I have any one quibble, it is that much of the research that supports these contentions has to do with the citing of academic research. The work is rigorous and may well be one of the few ways to objectively support what Arbesman is saying. But, as a non-academician, I couldn’t completely relate with the findings, and was slightly fatigued by the constant references.
However, those studies do help paint a fascinating picture of the way information and facts are transmitted and they provide a solid basis for much of what Arbesman is saying. In addition, these studies are not the only sources Arbesman uses, which helps maintain the credibility of what he has to say.
Perhaps most importantly, Arbesman succeeds in supporting the contention of the book’s subtitle. Everything we know does, indeed, have an expiration date. That is not a bad thing, as long as we are aware of it. And Arbesman’s book will help every reader become just a little bit more aware. show less
After I saw Samuel Arbesman speak at Tedx Kansas City a few weeks ago, I knew I had to read his book. The premise of his talk and his book is that facts are not really information set in stone, the way we usually think about them. The world is constantly changing and nothing is for certain forever. I was floored by the notion that what my kids are learning in school may contradict what I learned in school. For some reason, that notion had never occurred to me!
The Half-Life of Facts is easily show more understood by a lay person. I found it very readable and I don’t have a head for science at all. Each chapter outlines a different reason why facts may either change or be found to be untrue. Arbesman uses examples throughout, all of which I found fascinating. I would love to read even more stories about which facts have changed over time and why.
I was surprised by some of the facts that are no longer true. For instance, did you know that there really isn’t a dinosaur called a Brontosaurus? I had no idea and both of my boys have been through dinosaur obsessions within the past few years. The Brontosaurus was found to be a type of Apatosaurus over a hundred years ago. However, once something is out in the ether, it’s really hard to circulate information modifying or correcting the original assertion.
I appreciated that not only does Arbesman discuss the various ways in which untruths persist and facts change over time, he also offers suggestions of how to keep current without getting information overload.
I love that in keeping with the spirit of The Half-Life of Facts, Arbesman’s website has a Errata and Updates section for the book. There is already one case listed in which Arbesman unknowingly perpetuated a myth about how spinach became known to have a high iron content.
It’s very rare that I read a non-fiction book that I have a hard time putting down. The Half-Life of Facts is one of those rare riveting works of non-fiction. I highly recommend it to all. show less
The Half-Life of Facts is easily show more understood by a lay person. I found it very readable and I don’t have a head for science at all. Each chapter outlines a different reason why facts may either change or be found to be untrue. Arbesman uses examples throughout, all of which I found fascinating. I would love to read even more stories about which facts have changed over time and why.
I was surprised by some of the facts that are no longer true. For instance, did you know that there really isn’t a dinosaur called a Brontosaurus? I had no idea and both of my boys have been through dinosaur obsessions within the past few years. The Brontosaurus was found to be a type of Apatosaurus over a hundred years ago. However, once something is out in the ether, it’s really hard to circulate information modifying or correcting the original assertion.
I appreciated that not only does Arbesman discuss the various ways in which untruths persist and facts change over time, he also offers suggestions of how to keep current without getting information overload.
I love that in keeping with the spirit of The Half-Life of Facts, Arbesman’s website has a Errata and Updates section for the book. There is already one case listed in which Arbesman unknowingly perpetuated a myth about how spinach became known to have a high iron content.
It’s very rare that I read a non-fiction book that I have a hard time putting down. The Half-Life of Facts is one of those rare riveting works of non-fiction. I highly recommend it to all. show less
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- Rating
- 3.4
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- ISBNs
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