Cambridge Analytica: Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
March 9, 2017
The idea that software can make sense of information is a powerful one. Many companies tout the capabilities of their business processes, analytical tools, and staff to look at data and get a sense of the future. The vast majority of these firms have tools and methods which provide useful information.
What happens when a person who did not take a course in analytics learns about the strengths and limitations of these systems?
Answer: You get some excitement.
I read “Big Data’s Power Is Terrifying. That Could Be Good News for Democracy.” The main idea is that companies with nifty analytic systems and methods can control life is magnetic. Lots of folks want to believe that a company’s analyses can have a significant impact on elections, public opinion, and maybe the stock market.
The write up asserts:
Online information already lends itself to manipulation and political abuse, and the age of big data has scarcely begun. In combination with advances in cognitive linguistics and neuroscience, this data could become a powerful tool for changing the electoral decisions we make. Our capacity to resist manipulation is limited.
My view is that one must not confuse the explanations from marketing mavens, alarmists, and those who want to believe that Star Trek is “real” with what today’s systems can do. Firms like Cambridge Analytica and others generate reports. In fact, companies have been using software to figure out what’s what for many years.
What’s interesting is that folks learn about these systems and pick up the worn ball and carry it down field while screaming, “Touchdown.”
Sorry. The systems don’t warrant that type of excitement. Reality is less exciting. Probabilities are useful, not reality. But why not carry the ball. It is easier than learning what analytics firms do.
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2017
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