In his book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, author Yuval Noah Harari describes amongst many things the rise of “Dataism”. The current homo-centric worldview, according to which human life and values are placed above all else, is predicted to be replaced by a dystopia where data is at the center of the human experience (Harari, 2017).
Dataism is a term that first appeared in a New York Times article in 2013 (Brooks, 2013), where it is referred to as “the rising philosophy of the day”. The term has been broadened and further described as a worldview which celebrates humans’ experiences as data processing, categorizes individuals and organizations as algorithms who are programmed to function in a specific way and measures the value of human life in terms of its ability to transform experience into data.
New as the term may sound, the concept of processing and passing on information lies at the foundation of human societies. Today food, products, people and information can travel all around the globe quickly, safely and efficiently. According to (Brinson, 2019) all of human history can be seen as making this processing and transportation system more efficient.
So, what lies ahead?
The pursuit of the Dataist is to create an efficient system known as Internet-of-All-Things, a system that includes every literal thing, from sentient beings to animals, plants, machines, and manufactured goods. If the goal is the processing of information, the next logical step would be to extend the network of data extraction to include everything within our reach.
“The refrigerator will monitor the number of eggs in the drawer, and inform the chicken coop when a new shipment is needed. The cars will talk with one another, and the trees in the jungle will report on the weather and on carbon dioxide levels” (Brinson, 2019).
In this new interconnected world, the individual becomes a tiny chip within a giant system, unable to process or even comprehend the amount of data that surrounds him. In the data-driven world, power lies with organizations who have the will, infrastructure, access, and know-how to harness the vast amount of data available. Everyday life will be changing drastically within the following decades, from the way we consume goods, work, interact and collaborate with one another. It remains to be seen which tech giants will emerge to serve as leaders of the Dataist era, but current industry leaders such as Google and Amazon easily come to mind.
To end with a quote from Y.Harari himself, “What will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves?”
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References
Brinson, S. (2019). Dataism: God is in the Algorithm. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/understanding-us/dataism-god-is-in-the-algorithm-84af800205cd [Accessed 29 Sep. 2019].
Brooks, D., 2013. The philosophy of data. New York Times, 4, p.2013.
Harari, Y. (2017). Homo Deus. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
