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2016, Aufsatz Big Data, Zukunftsforschung

The Oracle of Big Data. Prophecies without Prophets

Gransche, B.: The Oracle of Big Data. Prophecies without Prophets. International Review of Information Ethics. Ethics of Big Data, Vol 24 (2016), S. 55-62.

Photo by Ramón Salinero on Unsplash
Photo by Ramón Salinero on Unsplash
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zum Beitrag

Abstract

The need for foreknowledge intensifies and a prophetic promise of today’s palm readers causes us wet palms: letting the world speak for itself. Big Data comes with the promise of enabling people to listen to that  speaking world and of gaining accurate foreknowledge by Big Data predictions. The uncertainty of our modern, complex world overstrains our present coping capabilities, causing a feeling of slipping off a slippery slope, which in turn causes a need for increasing our own foreknowledge. Part of the Big Data promise is to grant better foreknowledge by overcoming the wrongness of scientific theory or causation assumptions. But thus, people have no other option than to believe in these results and perform their actions in good faith. This makes Big Data based outcomes a matter of faith. This article argues that Big Data based outcomes can be seen as today’s oracle, as prophecies without prophets and reflects on the consequences of that perspective.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Seeking foreknowledge – The perfect conjecture …………………… 56
The promise of Big Data – Listen to the world itself ……………….. 57
The problem with the promise – A matter of faith ………………….. 58
The Oracle of Big Data – Prophecies without Prophets……………..60
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….61
References …………………………………………………………………………….. 61

Link zum kostenlosen Download des Artikels als PDF
Link zu Ausgabe 24 (2016) von "Ethics of Big Data"

In contrast to scientific prognosis, which is a matter of doubt, those Big Data prophecies being a matter of faith are immune to critique or falsification. Both the oracles of ancient times and those of Big Data have this immunity in common; the former because they were seen as an authentic direct message from the Gods in a deterministic cosmos, the latter because it is broadly believed to be the world speaking for itself. The actual events either prove the correctness of their prediction or the wrongness of the fallible interpreter.

Akzidenz Assisting ourselves to death?

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