On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the reliance on numerical tables in computational linguistics, highlighting their epistemic irrelevance, environmental costs, social inequalities, and commercial ties, supported by a decade of empirical meta-analysis.

Contribution

It offers a critical perspective on the epistemic and social implications of numerical tables in computational linguistics, challenging their prevalent use.

Findings

Numerical tables often lack epistemic relevance in research.

The use of tables with numbers has significant environmental impacts.

Tables with numbers contribute to social inequalities and commercial interests.

Abstract

This paper is a critical reflection on the epistemic culture of contemporary computational linguistics, framed in the context of its growing obsession with tables with numbers. We argue against tables with numbers on the basis of their epistemic irrelevance, their environmental impact, their role in enabling and exacerbating social inequalities, and their deep ties to commercial applications and profit-driven research. We substantiate our arguments with empirical evidence drawn from a meta-analysis of computational linguistics research over the last decade.