4
1 Introduction: The Digital Society
to provide immediate answers. Business people sensing the immense commercial
opportunities are getting excited too.
1.4 Big Data Gold Rush for the Twenty-First Century’s Oil
The fact that we have much more information about our world than ever before is both
a blessing and a curse. The accumulation of socio-economic data often implies a longterm intrusion into personal privacy and raises a number of important issues. It cannot
be denied that Big Data is a powerful resource that supports evidence-based decisionmaking and that it holds unprecedented potential for business, politics, science and
citizens. Recently, the social media portal WhatsApp was sold to Facebook for $19
billion, when it had 450 million users. This sale price implies that each employee
generated almost half a billion dollars in share value.
There is no doubt that Big Data creates tremendous opportunities, not just because
of its application in process optimization and marketing, but also because the information itself is becoming monetized. As demonstrated by the virtual currency BitCoin,
it is now even possible to turn bits into monetary value. It can be literally said that
data can be mined into money in a way that would previously have been considered
a fairy tale. For a time, BitCoins were even more valuable than gold.
Therefore, it is no surprise that many experts and technology gurus claim that Big
Data is the “oil of the twenty-first century”, a new way of making money—big money.
Although many Big Data sets are proprietary, the consultancy company McKinsey
recently estimated that the potential value of Open Data alone is $3–5 trillions per
year.
1 If the worth of this publicly available information were to be evenly distributed
among the world’s population, every person on Earth would receive an additional
$700 per year. Therefore, the potential of Open Data significantly exceeds the value
of the international free trade and service agreements that are currently under secret
negotiation.
2 Given these numbers, are we currently setting the right political and
economic priorities? This is a question we must pay attention to, because it will
determine our future.
The potential of Big Data spans every area of social activity, from processing
human language and managing financial assets, to empowering cities to balance
energy consumption and production. Big Data also holds the promise of enabling
us to better protect the environment, to detect and reduce risks, and to discover
opportunities that would otherwise have been missed. In the area of personalized
medicine, Big Data will probably make it possible to tailor medications to patients
in order to increase their effectiveness and reduce their side effects. Big Data will
1 https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/open-data-unlock
ing-innovation-and-performance-with-liquid-information.
2 I recommend the readers to look up Wikipedia to inform themselves about the impending international agreements coming under the abbreviations TTIP, CETA, TPP, and TISA. It seems that these
would dramatically increase the power of multi-national corporations. Would this be good or bad?
1 Introduction: The Digital Society
to provide immediate answers. Business people sensing the immense commercial
opportunities are getting excited too.
1.4 Big Data Gold Rush for the Twenty-First Century’s Oil
The fact that we have much more information about our world than ever before is both
a blessing and a curse. The accumulation of socio-economic data often implies a longterm intrusion into personal privacy and raises a number of important issues. It cannot
be denied that Big Data is a powerful resource that supports evidence-based decisionmaking and that it holds unprecedented potential for business, politics, science and
citizens. Recently, the social media portal WhatsApp was sold to Facebook for $19
billion, when it had 450 million users. This sale price implies that each employee
generated almost half a billion dollars in share value.
There is no doubt that Big Data creates tremendous opportunities, not just because
of its application in process optimization and marketing, but also because the information itself is becoming monetized. As demonstrated by the virtual currency BitCoin,
it is now even possible to turn bits into monetary value. It can be literally said that
data can be mined into money in a way that would previously have been considered
a fairy tale. For a time, BitCoins were even more valuable than gold.
Therefore, it is no surprise that many experts and technology gurus claim that Big
Data is the “oil of the twenty-first century”, a new way of making money—big money.
Although many Big Data sets are proprietary, the consultancy company McKinsey
recently estimated that the potential value of Open Data alone is $3–5 trillions per
year.
1 If the worth of this publicly available information were to be evenly distributed
among the world’s population, every person on Earth would receive an additional
$700 per year. Therefore, the potential of Open Data significantly exceeds the value
of the international free trade and service agreements that are currently under secret
negotiation.
2 Given these numbers, are we currently setting the right political and
economic priorities? This is a question we must pay attention to, because it will
determine our future.
The potential of Big Data spans every area of social activity, from processing
human language and managing financial assets, to empowering cities to balance
energy consumption and production. Big Data also holds the promise of enabling
us to better protect the environment, to detect and reduce risks, and to discover
opportunities that would otherwise have been missed. In the area of personalized
medicine, Big Data will probably make it possible to tailor medications to patients
in order to increase their effectiveness and reduce their side effects. Big Data will
1 https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/open-data-unlock
ing-innovation-and-performance-with-liquid-information.
2 I recommend the readers to look up Wikipedia to inform themselves about the impending international agreements coming under the abbreviations TTIP, CETA, TPP, and TISA. It seems that these
would dramatically increase the power of multi-national corporations. Would this be good or bad?