We live in the era Big Data. Its algorithms pervade our lives—shaping our purchases, our finances, our health care, our education, our communities, our public policy. Armed with phones, computers, and countless other devices, society has produced more data in the past two years—a zettabyte—than the prior span of human civilization. Yet the promise of Big Data lies not only in quantity, but in the quality of our analyses and the foresight of our applications. Is Big Data the future of scientific inquiry? Are we giving too much power to algorithms, seeking large-scale patterns, with the risk of losing the core of our humanity? Join us to explore the potential and perils of Big Data.
This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.
