bwaber@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
An Impressive Work of Modern Philosophy
5 stars
This book is an insightful philosophical examination of metrics across society and the significant trade offs that come with relying on them. Nguyen is clearly extremely negatively inclined towards metrics, but despite that he shows a mostly even hand weighing their benefits around coordination and standardization. This does have to be read as a philosophical work, however, not a scientific one, since none of his logical claims are backed by empirical work that he cites. Some of it is named in external research, but I would have loved for him to bring it all in one place. The focus on games as a lens to understand the power of metrics is extremely enjoyable, especially if you know the games he's talking about. Highly recommend
This book is an insightful philosophical examination of metrics across society and the significant trade offs that come with relying on them. Nguyen is clearly extremely negatively inclined towards metrics, but despite that he shows a mostly even hand weighing their benefits around coordination and standardization. This does have to be read as a philosophical work, however, not a scientific one, since none of his logical claims are backed by empirical work that he cites. Some of it is named in external research, but I would have loved for him to bring it all in one place. The focus on games as a lens to understand the power of metrics is extremely enjoyable, especially if you know the games he's talking about. Highly recommend
