The big idea: should we be using data to make life’s big decisions?

I find a lot of problems with this breezy discussion (from biases in data and actual results of things like algorithmic sentencing) but thought it would make good fodder for a discussion here.

Personally, I'm a fan of the ol' coin flip: nothing tells you what you really want like the feeling you get when your fate hangs in the literal air.

I think it really depends on the type of data and how it's used. Making an informed decision is helpful, but isn't a new idea. Using algorithms in my personal experience isn't always helpful, because assigning values to factors to consider, and how to combine those values, is often the most difficult thing. There's often factors we underestimate or overestimate the value we attach to them, and factors we might not be conscious of at all. Sometimes the algorithms can clarify things on our minds, and how we are approaching something, and why or why not our overall feeling about a decision might or might not correspond to the factors we're weighing. But in the end it seems like it often comes down to intuition and subconscious evaluations.

Sometimes I think there's too much focus on how to come to a big decision, and not enough on why some big decisions feel big and others not. That is, why are some decisions hard to decide and others not? It doesn't always correspond to what you'd think, and sometimes that uncertainty can say a lot. The cliche "not making a decision is a decision" is true, but I think it can be true in many ways that aren't appreciated. Appreciating the reasons why we have difficulty with some decisions can sometimes really get you far in coming to a decision.