The Economist’s Data Editor on Data Fetishism

Ken Cukier

Ken Cukier

“We fetishize data, we think that data is the answer. It’s far from the truth. In fact, it’s ridiculous, because the data is only a simulacrum of reality in the same way that a map is not a territory. And so while we need to use information and data to make decisions as we need to do, the data is always unfaithful, always unreliable, it always misleads, and you have to torture it until it confesses”–Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor, The Economist

Source: Economist Radio, “Arthur Miller and Modern-Day Witch-Hunts”

About GilPress

I'm Managing Partner at gPress, a marketing, publishing, research and education consultancy. Also a Senior Contributor forbes.com/sites/gilpress/. Previously, I held senior marketing and research management positions at NORC, DEC and EMC. Most recently, I was Senior Director, Thought Leadership Marketing at EMC, where I launched the Big Data conversation with the “How Much Information?” study (2000 with UC Berkeley) and the Digital Universe study (2007 with IDC). Twitter: @GilPress
This entry was posted in Big Data Bubble and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *