Quantum of Data

“Data is not the new oil or electricity. Data is the new plastic. The invention of plastic led to tremendous progress in Medicine, Transportation, Communication and so many more domains. But eventually we made so much plastic that we didn’t know how to deal with it anymore, and it became a liability. That’s what is silently happening with data right in front of our eyes”

“Imagine your doctor tells you you need to double your vitamin-C intake. If you are an irrational patient, you will rush home and eat twice as much as what you typically do. However, if you are a reasonable person, you will reassess your diet, identify the foods that are richest in vitamin-C, and study how your metabolism impacts the absorption of vitamin-C. Now, think of information as vitamin-C, and data as food. How come the entire data industry thinks data bulimia is the way to go, and everyone follows along?”

“In an age where most industries are hard at work on reducing their carbon footprint, the data industry continues to make bets on Big Data and Hyperscale Data Centers and to disregard its impact on the environment.”

“Technological viability and business viability are two entirely different things. You can ship the most sophisticated ML product and still end up seeing your entire team laid off because your model costs more to run than what the amount of money it can generate to your company. As data scientists, we need to be aware of this simple Economics rule.”

“The previous AI Winters started because a few trusted thought-leaders overpromised and underdelivered. We must be careful not to let AI get over-hyped again - or we shall face the same consequences as an industry.”

“I have never understood why Data Scientists have always placed so much emphasis on the model rather than the data. There is a reason why this is called DATA Science, and not MODEL science. Time to make data preparation the real deal. This is what DataPrepOps is all about.I have never understood why Data Scientists have always placed so much emphasis on the model rather than the data. There is a reason why this is called DATA Science, and not MODEL science. Time to make data preparation the real deal. This is what DataPrepOps is all about.”

“When plastic was invented, it enabled countless new innovations, such as single-use syringes and computers and changed the world. And yet, plastic also quickly became a liability, especially when produced and distributed at scale. In many ways, data is the new plastic.”