Lucy and the Rise of Big Data

For the first time in more than a decade, I chose the movie, and my man and son came along willingly. I have read the reviews of Lucy, and it is clear which ones are written by men, whose egos get bruised whenever there is an understated allusion that they are in fact not the center and boss of the universe, and by extension the master of us women, children and all innocent victims and animals, regardless of gender or age. (example from Todd something).

I derail. Point is Lucy is the first movie with me in mind as audience. I don’t care if its theories are imperfect and they had to fill trailers with novel violence so our men would be on board (as long as us smart and successful women bought the tickets and popcorn, of course). I am just delighted that someone is exploring the possibility that we may in fact not know anything fully and are actually living our lives in our limited paradigm supported by our agreed upon science and mathematical theories.

I am into Big Data. I’ve been into it long before I knew the latest industry descriptor of what I used to think of as the “Da Vinci brain” and became the director of the new Big Data practice at Trainer Communications. Big Data IS the big brain. It empowers us with god-like intelligence we couldn’t even imagine a hundred years ago, when we relied on printing presses, human speech and horses.

The question my ten-year-old son asked me after the movie was, “Mama, do you want to use 100% of your brain?” Quite profound. According to the movie, I’d be incapable of loving my mortal, time-trapped son as much as I do, so I gave him a percentage I thought would allow me to have access to my human, flawed and frightened self with a boost of incredible intelligence and clarity.

Big Data is the means of compiling all the minutia, the tiny granular bits of every stroke we type, every mouse click, every decision, purchase and connection we make, or don’t make, to provide us humans with unprecedented insight and clarity–the value of which is immeasurable, the impact unknown. But, we do know that a company without a Big Data strategy is already as good as erased.

Sure, it is complicated. And, the cacophony of voices from vendors claiming to be the way, the truth and the light is deafening. But, you can’t deny it. Big Data is not going away. It is not a fad or a trend. Big Data will impact everything you know to be true today. Someday it will be commonplace for your bed to tell you it is time to change the sheets and your kitchen trash can to send you a text when it is at capacity and even order more trash bags for you. And your favorite e-commerce websites will know you better than you know yourself and will almost magically offer you exactly what you need even before you ask.

Please follow me at @AsaFenton and I’ll continue this thread and provide guidance to help you navigate the unknown waters of Big Data. Please also follow @BlueData @MemSQL @Interana @Reflektion @Xangati, and especially @trainercomms.com.

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