What is Reductionism (Cartesianism)

Big Data-wow! Look at the size of it! People are dazzled easily and impressed by the amount of data legions of developers can produce and moreover how they store it. But one should ask why so much data is being collected. Part of the answer is simple in light of scientific projects but why is there so much data on us? Such questions prompt this chapter on the philosophy of Big Data. After some background on definitions, origins and contemporary applications, the main discussion begins with thinking about Big Data from a complexity standpoint. Big Data is turned into knowledge but knowledge is extrapolated from the past and used to manage the future. Yet it is questionable whether humans have the capacity to manage contemporary technological and social complexity evidenced by our world in crisis and possibly on the brink of extinction. We are at the center of observation from which Big Data emerges, the overall human project being not only to create an artificial brain with an attendant mind but a society that might be able to survive what “natural” humans cannot.