Choiceology with Katy Milkman | S17 EP1
The Algorithm Advantage
Every day, we face choices that could change outcomes in business, health, or life itself. Increasingly, computers are offering guidance. What happens when that advice clashes with human intuition?
In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we explore the high-stakes friction between human intuition and algorithmic guidance.
Dean Oliver, a data scientist at ESPN and author of Basketball on Paper and Basketball Beyond Paper, tells the story of the 2008 Boston Celtics. Facing a crossroads on roster moves and trades, the team made a radical gamble: They relied heavily on advanced analytics to reveal what traditional scouting missed. This choice ignited a data revolution that changed professional basketball forever.
Next, Katy speaks with Jennifer Logg, an assistant professor of management at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Logg shares her research on how people respond to computer-generated predictions. She reveals the specific moments when machine advice consistently outperforms human judgment—and the hidden dangers that emerge when those systems are built on flawed or biased data.
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