The Quantified Society Quotes

“Our desire not to be inferior to others in terms of performance, combined with the idea that we can freely choose to go the extra mile, can lead to self-exploitation. We force ourselves to go beyond what is good for us — until we burn out.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“Not everything fits into a cost-benefit analysis. Just because something is difficult to measure or quantify does not mean it is not valuable!”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“With all this measuring and comparing of performance, we have entered a never-ending competition.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“Not everything of value can be expressed in numerical values. And at the same time: if something is measurable, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it matters.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“With more and more technology in our lives and the fact that this technology primarily speaks a quantitative language, the need for reflection on measurement and quantification increases.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“This focus on improving an indicator while losing sight of the original goal is what I call indicatorism.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“In The Quantified Society, I explore why we measure so much and what this does to us, individually and as a society. I discuss unwanted side effects, such as a blind belief in the objectivity of numbers, but also measurement’s ability to help us focus our attention on something important.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society

“I distinguish five types of indicatorism:
1. performing easy, indicator-improving tasks;
2. avoiding difficult, indicator-worsening tasks;
3. improving an indicator for the short term, at the expense of long-term goals;
4. ignoring tasks not covered by an indicator;
5. manipulating or cheating to improve an indicator.”
― Berend van der Kolk, The Quantified Society