Janssens, LiisaKeymolen, Esther2020-02-182020-02-182016https://mediarep.org/handle/doc/14319This 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.engCreative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 GenericBig DataUtopian beliefcontingencydata-driven policyphilosophy of technology00470010.25969/mediarep/133979789462984493https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/13454