A perspective on hard data

Increasingly books are appearing that express concern about technology vs humanity. You are not a sum of data or an algorithm. You are not math, engineering, science. You are art (read Big Magic), you are joy, you are soul, you are small data, you are intuition, you are quirky, messy, and you are amazing.

Hard science

Hard science is not good at explaining us. Because in science, when human behaviour enters the equation, things go nonlinear. That’s why physics is easy, and sociology is hard. The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection. Not a day goes by without hearing about how irrational or inefficient we are when compared with machines. Next to our sleek silicon-powered computer counterparts, our brains are sluggish and burdened by emotions. In engineering circles, this is referred to as the human factor. The solution to the human problem seems straightforward. If we want to remain useful — and employed — we should cede territory to the algorithms all around us — even become subservient to them.

Humanities

Funding for humanities research has declined precipitously. In 2011, it amounted to less than half of a per cent of the funds for science and engineering research and development. The humanities — disciplines that explore culture, such as literature, history, philosophy, art, psychology, and…