Instead of presenting slide after slide of dry, confusing statistics, Rosling used software—Gapminder— that he co-developed to bring statistics to life. To Rosling, statistics need not be boring; statistics could tell a story. In one of my favorite Rosling demonstrations, he walked on stage and sat next to a washing machine. He made the case that the washing machine was one of the greatest inventions of the industrial revolution. Over the past few months I’ve had conversations with several prominent data scientists who—like Rosling—are optimists.

Source: Forbes February 11, 2017 15:00 UTC