Many of us think that our brains are hardwired for numbers or words; for natural science or social science. This week’s Brains Byte Back episode challenges this assumption.

It looks at the intersection of these two disciplines and the ways in which people from either background can work together to further human progress across sectors.

Listen to this podcast below and on Spotify, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, and Radio Public.

So, why exactly do data scientists need social scientists need each other, and where do they need to work together? Social scientists have the power to give a human context to data-driven decisions being made in areas like policy and business.

In trying to create ethical AI, social scientists allow data scientists to understand the real-world impact of their algorithms and any biases they may have.

However, encouraging these teams to work together to achieve maximum impact is easier said than done. Our guests on this episode are Ganes Kesari, Head of Analytics at Gramener, and Briana Brownell, Founder and CEO at Pure Strategy Inc.

They discuss all of these challenges, as well as what the future of this intersection looks like and how to encourage teams to embrace it going forward.

Disclosure: This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company.