Big Data

I'm reading the MIT Magazine.  They highlight 35 innovators under 35, about half my age.  Many of them use Big Data to see trends, make predictions, help the world.  Amazing stuff.

One person has constructed software that predict outbreaks of cholera, another has learned to show traffic patterns that can help reduce fuel consumption and help people shop locally.  Another does genetic screening for recessive diseases.  A pharmacist in Ghana has an app that will tell people if the medicine they are taking is real or fake -- a lot of it is fake in third world countries.  On and on, great stuff.

It was Big Data that led to the new statin drug recommendations -- that half the wold should take more pills.  Now there is a reaction to that.  People don't feel that Big Data captures them, and their individuality.

Psychotherapy does not led itself to Big Data.  That is it's strength.  IT assumes that everyone is an individual; everyone is unique.  And we are.  People respond so much better when they are treated as a special. unique individual.

But Big Data sees things that no individual can.  We are all a contributor and a victim of our times.  We breathe the air and drink the water and eat the processed food.  We think the thoughts that come all the media of the day, and those around us.  Things happen because other things happen.  If you can see what is happening you can help, or prevent other things from happening.

But I'm ME, we all cry out.  None of us exactly fit the profile of who WE all are. We can't forget that.

Very difficult to find the balance. Who to trust.  How to decide what to do.