Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work And Think
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier
Eamon Dolan / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Consider the Stasi, the hated secret police force in the former German Democratic Republic. Officially known as the ministry for state security, the agency was a particularly pernicious force in an already oppressive communist state. Its modus operandi was simple: to intimidate, infiltrate and gather intelligence on East German citizens using the most invasive methods. For four post-war decades, the Stasi ruled everyday life with a clenched fist. Only the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the simultaneous fall of the Iron Curtain derailed its operations.
"Employing around a hundred thousand full-time staff, the Stasi watched from cars and streets. It opened letters and peeked into bank accounts, bugged apartments and wiretapped phone lines. Its files - including at least 39 million index cards and 70 miles of documents - recorded and detailed the most intimate aspects of the lives of ordinary people," write Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Neil Cukier in
Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think
, their new book on the effects of collecting and manipulating data.
Now consider an average night out at your favourite restaurant or hotel. You're having a meal with a group of friends and family. At some stage, as the conversation ebbs a little, you might reach for your smartphone and look at your social media feed. You might "check in" at the particular location you find yourself at, you might update your status with a funny anecdote one of your companions has just told you or post a picture on your wall.
Now compare these two scenarios.
Where once an Eastern Bloc state built an elaborate and expensive surveillance machine to keep track of its citizens, now Facebook's one billion-strong worldwide community is, for the most part, freely giving up the often intimate details of their lives and whereabouts.
One would shudder, of course, to draw any real comparison, however slight, between the Stasi and Facebook - one was a particularly corrosive force, the other is a contemporary cultural powerhouse - but the issues of the right to privacy, industrial-scale data collection and the possible manipulation of that information are central questions in Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier's fascinating new book.
"Twenty years after East Germany's demise, more data is being collected and stored about each one of us than ever before," write the pair in Big Data.
Reduced to a basic definition, big data is the digital footprint each one of us leaves. The possibility this information offers is "to harness [it] in novel ways to produce useful insights or goods of significant value".
According to the authors - the former is a professor of internet governance at Oxford University, the latter is the data editor of The Economist - society stands on the precipice of a major transformation brought on by big data.
"The ground beneath our feet is shifting. Old certainties are being questioned. Big data requires fresh discussion on the nature of decision-making, destiny, justice . the possession of knowledge is coming to mean an ability to predict the future," they write, before asserting that this decade marks the moment when the information age finally delivers on its enormous promise.
This shift is under way because of the sheer volume of digital data that now sloshes around our lives, a resource which continues to grow almost beyond comprehension.
As recently as 1986, around 40 per cent of the world's computer power was to be found installed on humble pocket calculators made by Texas Instruments, Casio et al. Since then bigger, better, more powerful computers (and our ever-growing dependence on such devices) have brought with them ever greater quantities of data.
By 2007, more than 300 exabytes (each exabyte is the equivalent of 1bn gigabytes) of stored data was estimated to be in existence. This year that figure is expected to quadruple. Such growth is likely to continue almost unfettered.
Speaking by telephone from his study in Oxford, Mayer-Schönberger characterises erosion of privacy and freedom issues as "the dark side to big data".
"With Facebook, my worry is not that they capture data, but that they so far have been singularly unable to uncover the value in what they have. Soon enough they will look at the data and uncover the value and that value, that use, might be much less benign than just putting advertisements in their right-hand column."
Time and again, his book cites the power of complex algorithms and data processing: Google's ability to track the worldwide spread of the H1N1 virus via spikes in flu-related search requests; MasterCard's potential to work out that if a credit-card holder in the US filled up with petrol at around 4pm they would, in all probability, spend more than US$35 (Dh128) in a supermarket or restaurant in the following hour; Amazon's use of the information it retained from customer searches to work out that a shopper who was browsing through Ernest Hemingway's back catalogue would also be interested in works by F Scott Fitzgerald. The website didn't necessarily have to understand why customers often correlated the two authors, they just had to know that they did and then work out a corporate response to that eventuality.
Then there is
Moneyball,
the 2011 film of Michael Lewis's best-selling book, which represents perhaps the most high-gloss demonstration of big data's power.
The film tracks the progress of the Oakland A's major league baseball team after they set aside the hunches of the scouting team, in 2002, and replaced them with a new statistics-driven method of valuing a player's potential contribution to the team.
In common with most American sports, although amplified in this case, baseball has always been a numbers-driven game. Fans and coaches often spend hours poring over game stats in the manner of a Second World War cryptographer trying to crack the Enigma code.
The trick the A's general manager Billy Beane and his backroom staff managed to perform was to use a whole new set of numbers to model the efficiency of the team: "Out went time-honoured stats like 'batting average' and in came seemingly odd ways of thinking about the game like 'on-base percentage'," write the authors. Beane's systems are now in use throughout the league, neutralising his competitive advantage, but vindicating his methodology.
Another of the book's more arresting examples of big data adoption occurs in New York City where, in 2007, a utilities company was struggling to deal with a rash of exploding manholes around its network: "Sometimes the cast-iron covers explode into the air before crashing to the ground. This is not a good thing," write the authors, particularly when the city was populated by more than 50,000 such units and network health checks were carried out pretty much at random.
A team of big data analysts drew up a long list of likely problems - most notably the age of cables housed within a manhole and whether a particular site had experienced issues before - and managed the statistics to accurately predict future trouble spots.
As the authors rightly point out, in this example both of these predictive causes seem fairly obvious. The same might be true of the political unrest of the Arab Spring. Surely the prevailing factors of the uprisings - high unemployment wedded to large numbers of disaffected young people using social media to talk about their issues - should have made them easy to spot for a big data analyst?
Mayer-Schönberger disagrees. "People were looking at [the Arab Spring] and saying this was a Twitter revolution when less than one per cent of the people were Twitter users," he says. "Then someone said it was really an Al Jazeera revolution, which probably is closer to the truth, but we really don't know because we don't have the data."
Smartphone usage, rather than relatively low levels of internet adoption, appears to hold the key to what might happen next in this region.
"The more smartphones are being used and the more data they collect, the more we'll know," he says. "That data will provide transparency and with that comes a better ability to predict the future."
Early in the book, the authors write that they are not "big data's evangelists" but rather its "messengers". This is a viewpoint Mayer-Schönberger upholds during our conversation.
His biggest concern, he says, "is the combination of the dictatorship of data and punishment by propensity".
Big data "can't supplant human beings in coming up with innovative ideas", and some of the hype that surrounds it will, he says, inevitably deflate, just like it did after the dot.com bubble burst.
"Somebody said to me that with big data you can predict everything, that's not right. For some areas, big data is not particularly useful."
Whatever the case though, big data is here to stay.
Nick March is editor of The Review.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
RACECARD
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 1 (PA) $50,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
6.35pm: Festival City Stakes – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
7.10pm: Dubai Racing Club Classic – Listed (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 2,410m
7.45pm: Jumeirah Classic Trial – Conditions (TB) $150,000 (T) 1,400m
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 2 (TB) $250,000 (D) 1,600m
8.55pm: Cape Verdi – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,600m
9.30pm: Dubai Dash – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,000m
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
The specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 849Nm
Range: 456km
Price: from Dh437,900
On sale: now
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
Company%20Profile
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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