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Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by tsunamifury on Sunday August 28, 2016 @11:56AM (#12377002)
Complete hyperbolic garbage. Data, given a big enough set, is just a reflection of reality. You might as well claim we have a religion of our eyes and ears.

Given huge sets, much like reality, almost anything can be "proven" at some sort of local scale. It's not a religion or a cult or a new god. It's just observation.

Second, data is a recording of past events, and has surprisingly limited ability to predict future outcomes. There is a narrow window for the most instinctual tasks where it works well and there is a Tom of value there -- but it comes no where close enough to be meta-cognitions ability to give you free will.

Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by sgt101 on Sunday August 28, 2016 @03:05PM (#12377934)
'Given huge sets, much like reality, almost anything can be "proven" at some sort of local scale.'

I don't think you're right, I think that some things aren't tractable to this kind of analysis. Obv. Godel type things, but if you believe in freedom of will and an open universe then a lot of other things. For example, the path of true love, the next line of a poem, the summer after next's hot fashion trend.

More importantly (less) international events, earthquakes, solar flares.

Fractals, chaos and incompletness.

Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by tsunamifury on Sunday August 28, 2016 @03:46PM (#12378161)
You can prove it retrospectively but you can't predict it in the moment was what I was trying to say.
Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by falcolas on Monday August 29, 2016 @12:23PM (#12382969)
Given enough data, while you can't predict exact actions, you can predict general trends with good accuracy. For example, given your complete post history and metadata about those posts and your views of HN, someone could fairly easily predict what subjects you will upvote, what subjects you'll comment on (and a good idea of the tone of your comment), and so forth.

We're creatures of habit, and once you have enough information to identify those habits, you can do a pretty good job at predicting what we will do. Heck, with the little data I have access to, I can be pretty sure which articles I will see comments from big posters like jacquesm and tptacek, and what their comments will contain. I can't predict every story they will comment upon, nor the exact details of the comments, but at a higher level it is definitely predictable.

Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by sgt101 on Sunday August 28, 2016 @05:57PM (#12378734)
Ah - fair play.

nice.

Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by gloriousduke on Sunday August 28, 2016 @02:03PM (#12377579)
Valid points, but they won't stop the average less self-analytical person from trusting Big Data, just as many are susceptible to altering their behavior because of some "study" they read about in the paper. Due to our (the masses) inability to follow the gnothi seauton aphorism, we are more likely to allow someone or something to make choices for us. See concluding paragraph of the essay.
Re:Big data, Google and the end of free will by xapata on Sunday August 28, 2016 @02:09PM (#12377627)
Is it different today from 50 or 100 years ago? Doesn't seem so different to me.