Crystal Ball and Magic Wand - the Dangerous Promise of Big Data (Chapter 3 of Digital Society)
Digital Society, Forthcoming
24 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2014
Date Written: September 28, 2014
Abstract
Every activity in the world now leaves ever more digital traces. What if a "wise king" or "benevolent dictator" had real-time access to all the data in the world? Could he take perfect decisions to benefit society? Could he predict the future? Could he control the further development of the world? What would be the limits and side effects of such an approach? Or is the attempt to create a Crystal Ball to predict the world and a Magic Wand to control it a dangerous dream?
Keywords: digital revolution, benevolent dictator, big government, optimization, complexity, cybernetics
JEL Classification: A00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation