Irving Wladawsky-Berger: Big Data, Complex Systems and Quantum Mechanics

12/07/2012

Big Data is one of the hottest topics out there.  Big data is a foundational element in IT’s quartet of Next Big Things: Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud.  But, as the real world keeps reminding us, it is possible to make bad predictions and decisions even if you use tons of big data to make them.  The 9/11 attacks showed how even highly sophisticated intelligence agencies can fail to pick out highly relevant signals amidst the mountains of data being analyzed.  Our recent financial crisis showed how even the best and brightest can fail to detect an approaching catastrophic storm.  The failure of so many professional forecasters to accurately predict the 2012 presidential election shows that you can find almost any answer you want in all that big data.

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