Gary Wolf and Nick Thompson discuss what our devices get right and wrong about us—and how journalists can separate meaningful insight from technological hype.
The Tow Center for Digital Journalism is hosting a conversation between two leading voices in technology journalism: Gary Wolf, cofounder of the Quantified Self movement and a longtime WIRED writer and editor, and Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former editor-in-chief of WIRED.
From fitness trackers and sleep scores to health apps and AI-generated medical advice, technology increasingly guides highly personal decisions in daily life. But how much should we trust what our devices say?
Drawing on Wolf’s new book, The Quantified Self: Learning to Observe, and Thompson’s The Running Ground, which explores running, ambition, aging, and the limits of the body, they will examine what personal data can—and cannot—reveal about our lives. Bringing together Wolf’s pioneering work on self-tracking and Thompson’s perspective as a media leader, technology journalist, author, and host of “The Most Interesting Thing in AI,” the conversation will explore how journalists and the public can evaluate the claims made by wearable companies, health platforms, and AI systems—and distinguish meaningful insight from hype.
Wolf and Thompson will also consider how technology journalism has evolved over the past two decades and what responsible reporting looks like when technologies increasingly shape how we understand ourselves.
The program will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. Copies of The Quantified Self: Learning to Observe and The Running Ground will be available for purchase from The Literary Assembly.
RSVP required. Registration closes 24 hours before event start time.