The Data Dilemma
John Nosta
I’m a Leading Innovation Theorist in Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Medicine.
We’re creating more data than the human mind could begin to process, let alone analyze.
I don't think there's any way to get around it.
?The ability of our human brains to assimilate, understand, corral, or even deal with the volume of information is at a point where it's functionally impossible. You can look at both sides of this equation. The amount of data coming “at us” is ever increasing, yet our cognitive ability is largely fixed. Something has to give.
?But I’m getting ahead of myself…
?It starts with that four-letter word: data.?Data bombards our lives in ways that are both overt and hidden:
Volume.?It’s a lot. An interesting and often-quoted?story?from 2013 stated that 90 percent of all the world’s data has been created in the past two years. And I would imagine that it must be an even greater percentage by now. The volume of data, even by today's standards, is almost inconceivable, yet it continues to grow. Diagnostic imaging is an example where the data set is exploding, bringing amazing and important advances in care.
Variety.?From MRIs to the Internet of Things to your smartphone, data generators are everywhere. The advances in technology just add to the variety of sources. In today’s world, almost everything, including yourself, is a data generator.
Veracity.?Today, data quality is central to advances in informatics and the pursuit of a functional application. It is all about "less garbage in" and the subsequent enhancement of overall utility, particularly in analytics.
领英推荐
But data is just part of the story.?Or should I say, the beginning of the story.?Data is the noise, the chatter, the first step in the systemic conversion to information, knowledge, utility, and even wisdom. Now let’s take a look at platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Roblox, Netflix, Amazon, and Google.?These platforms don’t just offer up data in the forms of pictures, links, likes and alerts; they algorithmically inject optimized data streams directly into our consciousness.?It’s no longer a fire hose that spews data, but a lubricated beam of electrons that are mediated by our own powerful neurotransmitters.
Simply put, the real transition from data to wisdom has historically been the domain of the human brain.?Technology has provided the “calculator” to help with number crunching, but the human component has long been the essential and magical driver of the “a ha” moment.?And in many instances, this remains the case.?
But we need to go back to the data chart and take a closer look. The exponential expansion of data is very different than the transformation of this data to information and knowledge.?There’s a gap.?And it’s this data gap that holds our transformation back. We need to leverage technology, both in the cloud and on the edge, as a “partner in cognition” to help analyze data, structure information, and facilitate knowledge.?Otherwise, we are lost in the sea of digital noise.?
To develop an informed perspective in today’s world, we must tame the beast of technology by recognizing its essential role, and developing a win-win strategy where technology sits comfortably with us at the table of wisdom.
This post was sponsored by AT&T Business, but the opinions are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T Business’s positions or strategies.
Graphic adapted from IPQ Analytics with permission.
Digital Health Consultant & Non-Exec. Director
3 年Agree, and even though I feel you describe the positive role we mere humans can still play I’ve experienced the journey from AI wonderment (it’s a black box) to the role a mere human and perhaps subject matter expert can have in finding new and exciting knowledge and answers that have been unknown for decades. Let’s not use the jargon to keep others out. Let’s have all the questions that data can confirm or deny. And the myths that are just that to be challenge so we move forwards. These amazing tools are still at the disposal of us mere human.
Recharging, Writing, Investing, Helping. Non-executive director at JPMorgan China Growth & Income plc
3 年When you multiply the impact of exponentially compounding curves, the human mind cannot process the resultant numbers or even the increasing rate of acceleration!
Innovation Leader
3 年Nice slide. This distinction between information, knowledge and wisdom (related to our graph) is often called "Eliot's Triad" from the poem, The Rock by T.S. Eliot. In the introductory section (page 21 out of about 1,500 slides) of the mini-MD I highlight this distinction with the emphasis being that the program is not an information dump (like a lot of medical school) but a distillation, as much as possible, of the knowledge and wisdom of medicine. This particular slide is meant to show that obviously I have a medical degree which experience serves as a basis for my knowledge but also show that as medicine advances the program is continually updated (for example with the picture of me in 2018 at the Harvard Medical School internal medicine review for practicing doctors) and then I lead into a quick discussion of Eliot's Triad as a motivating principle for the program.
Registered Nurse * Brand Strategist * Healthcare Industry Geek * Passionate about Leveraging Consumer, Provider & Payer Insights to Improve Health Outcomes * Patient-Centric * Solution-Driven * Transformational
3 年Great insights! We absolutely need to learn to harness this data to advance our patient engagement and healthcare efficiency goals.