Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think

big data is about predictions

data became a raw material of business, a vital economic input, used to create a new form of economic value

“big data”—the ability of society to harness information in novel ways to produce useful insights or goods and services of significant value.

big data: by changing the amount, we change the essence.

Just as the printing press led to changes in the way society governs itself, so too does big data

“In God we trust—all others bring data,” is the mantra of the modern

Given enough data, perfect anonymization is impossible no matter how hard one tries.

In the AOL case, users’ identities were exposed by the content of their searches. In the Netflix case, the identity was revealed by a comparison of the data with other sources. In both instances, the companies failed to appreciate how big data aids de-anonymization. There are two reasons: we capture more data and we combine more data.

Evidence that data itself, rather than skills or mindset, will come to be most valued can be found in numerous acquisitions in the big-data business. For example, in 2006 Microsoft rewarded Etzioni’s big-data mindset by buying Farecast for around $110 million. But two years later Google paid $700 million to acquire Farecast’s data supplier, ITA Software.

What finally helped make Arabic numerals a success was the evolution of another tool of datafication: double-entry bookkeeping.