Philosophy Wire: Research. Humans. Big Data. Smiling.

When it comes to understanding what makes people get sick, medical science has long assumed that the bigger the sample of human subjects, the better. But a research led by the University of California, Berkeley, suggests this big-data approach may be wildly off the mark. That is largely because emotions, behavior and physiology vary markedly from one person to the next and one moment to the next. So averaging out data collected from a large group of human subjects at a given instant offers only a snapshot, and a fuzzy one at that, researchers said. [1]

You are unique.
You were brought into this world alone.
You will die alone.
And yet…

You are never truly sick without the longing of the touch of your loved ones. And you are never truly healthy without that touch either. At the end, computers will have all the data in the world. At the end, we will analyze the universe and put it in a small little box…

We used to be afraid of that box.
Keeping it closed tight.
But this box will one day open.
By the soft hands of a mother.
Giving a gift to her only child.
The kid’s eyes will shine.
And a cosmos will come into existence…
With only one data bit.
Which no computer will ever have the power to analyze…

A flower blossoming.
A gentle touch.
A silent smile.
Bringing tears to the eyes…

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