Perls of Information Age

Inexpensive data storage and computational capabilities, together with the internet, have ushered in the Information Age, providing tremendous benefits that we are reaping with great success. However, there are negative side effects of easily available abundant information from diverse sources. Information has fostered a plethora of knowledge subjects that are not all equal. Vulnerabilities of the scientific method are getting exposed more often and thereby eroding science’s credibility with the quantity and variety of the information overload.

Far from being just a criticism, Perils of Information Age is an intellectual trip based on thought experiments, head-smacking experiences, and curious observations. It lays out a structured framework that outlines how to assess and deal with the perils of Information Age-the impotency of certain college majors and academic training, the junk science behind statistical studies analyzing complexity, the analysis-paralysis of data analytics, and increasing strain on our cognitive abilities.

Pranav Prabhash is mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, who travelled around the world while working in the Energy Industry for almost a decade, during which he also got an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs. In his professional career, Pranav developed analytic algorithms for equipment monitoring and is fascinated by the information revolution and in some cases, the devolution.

Pranav has developed an enthusiasm towards figuring out how to see the forest from the trees, to isolate the signal from the noise, to detect fiction disguised as truth, and in doing so, to let the truth prevail. The enthusiasm turned him into a writer and this book is an outcome of that cerebral pursuit intended to stimulate your thinking.