The Big Data Question

The term big data is a very simple expression of a pretty complex idea. Businesses are spending millions to extract value from big data. Data engineers are working day and night to create and formulate better and more secure data pipelines. Data scientists are constantly innovating to create better models to extract insights from data. We will take a deeper look into the world of big data and how it is affecting the world as we know it. 

What is so Big?

Clearly, the volume of big data is through the roof. Imagine thousands of smartphones, tens of thousands of applications generating a massive amount of user-related data. Big data includes surfing, search engine, streaming and even online purchase data practically all the data generated by an individual while using electro-informatic utilities. Extremely rich and loaded with epic variety, with a very high velocity of generation and of enormous veracity. 

Why bother about big data?

If utilized properly it can predict where, when and how hard the next cyclone might hit, or maybe it can help find out a suitable population interested in sun-screen lotions. A bunch of detrimental people can turn cities into deserts, rebels can topple governments without firing a shot. However, an entrepreneur might manage to predict a sudden future scarcity of drinking water and can perhaps design an affordable purification system for the masses or perhaps can cash out the prediction by simply sharing it with relevant parties. It is so big in terms of the aforementioned ‘V’s it can predict how many asteroids will enter the atmosphere during next summer, and how many stage-matched cancer patients will survive to witness their burning debris falling from the sky.

The ethical question of big data

Who should know how many times Mr X bought a painkiller from the internet? Clearly the vendor and Mr. X himself. But while purchasing, ticking a few boxes were mandatory, And careless Mr.X never considered reading those boxes before ticking them. As a justified end result, X ends up getting a lot of Ads on his social media wall; search engines misinterpret his purest intention of writing “Panda” and suggest him “Painkiller” instead. The situation might worsen when sales personnel start showing up at his doorstep, asking him to buy their magic jelly for instant relief from pain.

The collection and analysis of something as powerful as Big data remains a shady business, unclear to most and unintended by many as well. A human being today can not help but generate data with little to no capability to utilize it, while it can be collected and used by other parties for gains and profits! Seems unfair? A solution to this is out of reach as of now.

The precarious cycle of Use and abuse

The manifold benedictions of big data can remain untapped even after the interventions of good intentions. The questions are, who to trust? Can the education system produce enough trustworthy human beings? Can the expenses of maintaining a supercomputer for earthquake prediction justify intrusions in the peaceful lives of netizens? Perhaps a master analyst with access to big data can answer these questions, perhaps he is not ethically bound to find the answers. An unskilled analyst might predict a wrong location for the next terrorist attack and death comes to thousands as an unpleasant surprise. 

What if someone fails to predict how much funding the healthcare industry will need for fighting a carefully predicted pandemic? Restricting big data is an idiotic act indeed, the concentration should remain on whom to trust with all the data generated by everyone. Neither anyyone will look at satellite flood pattern data and find out a probable irrigation supplement in support of the farmers, nor blackmail them into selling their land at cheap rates.

It has to be ensured that a person undergoing a big data online course receive proper ethical training and learns to incorporate values in professionalism. As the blessings of big data can not be ignored and it is utterly unfair to restrict its use due to ethical boundaries. Perhaps, humanity has to wait for the complete utilization of this technological blessing. A fairly long incubation in the right environment can give rise to a whole new class of big data operators.

Also Read: Future of Big Data in India: Bright or Bleak

A new group, reluctant to bombard the population with irrelevant pieces of information. We have already seen a ton of positive activities powered by big data analytics, from detecting oceanic garbage to preventing viral infection. Data analytics is the key to technological progress in our era, and we can only hope that the power remains in good hands.