Book part:
A Utopian Belief in Big Data

Author(s): Keymolen, Esther

Abstract

This essay aims to unravel the reason why policy makers –and others as well- persistently believe that Big Data will make the future completely knowable and consequently solve a myriad of societal problems. Based on insights deriving from the philosophy of technology, it will be argued that although human life is always ‘under construction’, nevertheless, there exists a Utopian longing for a final ground that contemporary technology should provide us with. This one-sided belief in the power of technology makes people blind for the unforeseen consequences technology may have. Technology, and more specifically Big Data, can only serve as a temporary shelter, which time and time again human beings will have to improve and alter. Moreover, this all-encompassing desire for certainty and safety is not as desirable as it may seem at first sight. After all, a life stripped from its complexity, may turn out to be a boring life.

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BibTex
Keymolen, Esther: A Utopian Belief in Big Data. In: Janssens, Liisa: The Art of Ethics in the Information Society. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2016, S. 67-71. DOI: 10.25969/mediarep/13397.
@INCOLLECTION{Keymolen2016,
 author = {Keymolen, Esther},
 title = {A Utopian Belief in Big Data},
 year = 2016,
 doi = {10.25969/mediarep/13397},
 editor = {Janssens, Liisa},
 address = {Amsterdam},
 booktitle = {The Art of Ethics in the Information Society},
 pages = {67--71},
 publisher = {Amsterdam University Press},
}
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