Data Science in Social Context – Help from Physics and Statistics

In this article we remind the users of data in social, economic or political settings how physicist (astrophysicists, meteorologists, urban physicists) used mathematical notions seeking correlation between variables. This lessons can help practitioners in social contexts (tourisms, merchandise, health) to sharpen distinction between datum and information (sense making), develop criticisms on predictions based on algorithmic reasoning and wonder about model of human cognition (cognition as emergent phenomena or predictable chain of “if- than” pattern).