Everyone knows that the Internet has changed how businesses operate, governments function, and people live. But a new, less visible technological trend is just as transformative: “big data.” Big data starts with the fact that there is a lot more information floating around these days than ever before, and it is being put to extraordinary new uses. Big data is distinct from the Internet, although the Web makes it much easier to collect and share data. Big data is about more than just communication: the idea is that we can learn from a large body of information things that we could not comprehend when we used only smaller amounts.
In the third century BC, the Library of Alexandria was believed to house the sum of human knowledge. Today, there is enough information in the world to give every person alive 320 times as much of it as historians think was stored in Alexandria’s entire collection — an estimated 1,200 exabytes’ worth. If all this information were placed on CDs and they were stacked up, the CDs would form five separate piles that would all reach to the moon.
This is how Kenneth Neil Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger introduced their essay on how the last information (now called data) revolution is transforming all areas and activites of our lifes, published in the Foreign Affairs’ May-June 2013 issue.
In the third century BC, the Library of Alexandria was believed to house the sum of human knowledge. Today, there is enough information in the world to give every person alive 320 times as much of it as historians think was stored in Alexandria’s entire collection — an estimated 1,200 exabytes’ worth. If all this information were placed on CDs and they were stacked up, the CDs would form five separate piles that would all reach to the moon.
This explosion of data is relatively new. As recently as the year 2000, only one-quarter of all the world’s stored information was digital. The rest was preserved on paper, film, and other analog media. But because the amount of digital data expands so quickly — doubling around every three years — that situation was swiftly inverted. Today, less than two percent of all stored information is nondigital… more
Foreign Affairs Focus: Big Data with Kenneth N. Cukier. F. Affairs editor Gideon Rose interviews Kenn Cukier, data editor of The Economist, on the rise of big data and its implications for society. Mr. Cukier points out the distinct power and potential of big data, noting how this «datafication» can affect society in everything from automobile safety to politics to social work. He also addresses the risks presented by this trend. (Published on March 20, 2013)
Related
Who Will Control the Internet? By Kenneth Neil Cukier (November/December 2005)
