Episode 19: Kristian Lum - Lifelong curiosity and Criminal Justice Reform through data

Show Notes: Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) (1:40) The contagious nature of imprisonment paper (1:50) Value of community colleges (6:30) Professor Dan Balaguy at Sierra College (7:20) Professor Richard Stong at Rice University - Combinatorics (8:30)  Coming to an understanding of one’s career and curiosity (10:20)  How can we make the public more data literate (i.e., numeracy)? (12:15) Maintain a healthy skepticism of numbers - think more critically (see Seth Godin’s thoughts)  Data can encode discrimination and bias (16:10) Predictive policing algorithms - Kristian’s paperBe reflective about where patterns in data come from Importance of uncertainty (20:00) HRDAG ‘casualty estimations’ (21:10) Humanize the data (22:00) Describing how systematic things can be (23:50) Taking chances (e.g., Tim Ferriss guidance on cold emailing) (24:50) Where do you get your confidence and energy (26:50) Maintaining beginner’s mindset - blur disciplinary lines (28:20) “The most beautiful experience we have is the mysterious” -Einstein (29:20) How do you grapple with the outrage of injustice? Those with data skills need to get involved with criminal justice reform (36:20) Volunteer with public defenders - make sure you are a low barrier to people if you volunteer Talk with the people closest to the problem - human-centered approachFind ways that your unique skills can help How do you maintain your energy? (39:50) Morning routine (40:30) Lightning Round (43:10) Book: Harry Potter Passion: sowing costumes What is making your heart sing now? Her daughter Screwed up: partial differential equations Further reading and getting involved in criminal justice reform Pod Save the People podcast (38:30) https://theappeal.org/ news source (39:00) Ear Hustle podcast Organizations leading the way  Were to find Kristian online: Twitter: @KLdivergence (https://twitter.com/KLdivergence) 'Five-Cut Fridays’ series  Kristian’s list