Abstract

Big Data - Towards a New Techno-Determinism?

Highlights

  • This dimension of mythology is of particular interest in this contribution aiming at de-constructing some of the major claims of big data enthusiasm; such as a claim that the exploitation of large, messy data sets allows to win more insights in a natural/self-evident way as “[w]ith enough data, the numbers speak for themselves“ (Anderson 2008)

  • Behind the scenes of big data mystique and related trends there might be a new paradigm of data pragmatism on the rise as Boellstorff (2013) pointed out: „Algorithmic living is displacing artificial intelligence as the modality by which computing is seen to shape society: a paradigm of semantics, of understanding, is becoming a paradigm of pragmatics, of search”

  • Together with an increase in automated decision-making big data entails high risks of false positives and self-fulfilling prophecies, especially if correlation is mixed up with causation as the big data discourse suggests. This is inter alia visible in one of the seemingly “big” success stories, namely Google flu trends which was celebrated for its high accurate prediction of the prevalence of flu

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Summary

Introduction

This dimension of mythology is of particular interest in this contribution aiming at de-constructing some of the major claims of big data enthusiasm; such as a claim that the exploitation of large, messy data sets allows to win more insights in a natural/self-evident way as “[w]ith enough data, the numbers speak for themselves“ (Anderson 2008). Behind the scenes of big data mystique and related trends there might be a new paradigm of data pragmatism on the rise as Boellstorff (2013) pointed out: „Algorithmic living is displacing artificial intelligence as the modality by which computing is seen to shape society: a paradigm of semantics, of understanding, is becoming a paradigm of pragmatics, of search”. Together with an increase in automated decision-making big data entails high risks of false positives and self-fulfilling prophecies, especially if correlation is mixed up with causation as the big data discourse suggests.

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