Stop Asking for The Studies

or, aimless rants on the Data Guy

1. There’s a type of guy I encounter, occasionally and memorably, on the internet. When presented with a piece of literary nonfiction, or perhaps an academic philosophy paper, or any of the other qualitative modes by which thinkers from scholars to entertainers share thoughts, this guy is skeptical. Where, he wants to know, is the data? The deliverables? W…