Nathan Jurgenson on Christian Rudder: Big Data always stands in the shadow of the bigger data to come. The assumption is that there is more data today and there will necessarily be even more tomorrow, an expansion that will bring us ever closer to the inevitable "pure" data totality: the entirety of our everyday actions captured in data form, lending themselves to the project of a total causal explanation for everything. Over and over again, Rudder points out the size, power, and limitless potential of his data only to impress upon readers how it could be even bigger. This long-held positivist fantasy -- the complete account of the universe that is always just around the corner -- thereby establishes a moral mandate for ever more intrusive data collection.
Michiru Hoshino: Oh! I feel it. I feel the cosmos!
Edward Kleinbard: The nature of life is that we do not control it. Both our native talents and our good fortune are distributed through processes that we cannot fathom and do not 'earn.' Our loud proclamations that what we take from the market is our just desserts is just noise made against the darkness, trying to still the voice inside that asks, why me and not them?
Dannie Abse: Ask the moon.
The mystery named
is not the mystery caged.
Adam Piore: As one trademarked lottery slogan goes, "Hey, you never know."
Megan Finnerty: The future of this industry depends on darkness.
Silvia Killingsworth: What if aliens turn out to be delicious?
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