Data Science Experiences and Emotions:  From Lonesome to Awesome

With the launch of issue 6.2, HDSR celebrates its first quintessential milestone: 20 regular and 4 special issues over 5 formative years since its inception on July 2, 2019.Encapsulating my 5-year HDSR experience with an apt adjective would require more prompt engineering than I can afford.I therefore will continuously refer to it as my "start-up" experience, despite a friendly reminder that without having to mortgage my house to launch HDSR, I have not earned the title 'startupper' (Meng, 2019).However, irrespective of its label, my experience in data science, enriched through HDSR, has impacted my emotions and behaviors.My curiosity in everything data science has significantly outpaced my capacity, making me more impatient.There are so many subjects to learn, ideas to explore, and partnerships to build.I am acutely aware that my anxiety could be simply a sign of aging.That very thought, however, only exacerbates my anxiety.The feeling of being overwhelmed also has enhanced my empathy.I used to be agitated by any reinvented wheel, especially of an inferior kind.I wanted to throw a book at the re-inventor-did you ever read?After reading myriad submissions to HDSR-and their review reports-from essentially all walks of data science (and beyond), I now see wheel reinventing as an evolutional inevitability, especially for a blossoming ecosystem.Similar challenges can emerge in many areas or disguises.When we are charged to provide prompt solutions or circumventions, it is not unlike the situation where we devour unhealthy fast food when we are starving or take an illegal U-turn when we are running late for a job interview.Even for those of us who are fully health conscious or risk averse, pressures of many kinds can push us to boundaries from which normally we would stay away.No, I am not encouraging or excusing redundant efforts in data science or any endeavors, just as no one should advocate for unhealthy or reckless behaviors.I am merely reminding ourselves to appreciate the behavioral and emotional aspects of-and their variations with the roles we take in-the data science enterprise.As a statistical reader, I was depressed by the excitement displayed in an article on speeding up computation by replacing probabilistic derivations with algebraic manipulation, but without apparently realizing that it is a case of Fisher's fiducial sleight-of-hand.As a statistical researcher, I have analogized distribution forms with Platonic forms for capturing similarities to encourage quantitative contemplations of qualitative concepts, knowing well that whatever deep thoughts I had formed are likely (at the best) a deepfake to philosophers.In either case, my emotions and behaviors formed and shaped my data science experiences.Those who understand my emotions and behaviors, instead of ignoring them, would have an easier time engaging me and distilling more introspection in me for my self-betterment.This experiential and emotional dimension-the 'double E'-of data science is rarely featured in data science publications.Yet multiple articles in this issue remind us of its pivotality in appreciating and nurturing the data science ecosystem.Hence, I venture to thematize the articles in this issue via this EE-prism.