Data Scientists Don’t Exist
Data scientists don’t exist.
Now, I know this is a pretty radical idea.
Particularly for those of you who are data scientists, who got up for work this morning, poured that second cup of coffee, dropped the kids off at school and parked their Ferrari F60 America’s in their nominated parking spots next to the CEO’s Bentley. But I am sorry.
You don’t exist.
You see, although we are drowning in a tidal wave of data, that doesn’t exist either. Like Schrodinger’s Cat, data only comes into existence when you look at it. And as soon as you look at it , it turns into information. Whoops! Too late!
And even worse- you are aware of less than 5% of the processing that you — personally- do to turn data into information.
Yes, sure I know you talk about data all the time, and you have lots and lots of cool tools to manipulate it. But you are working on information- not data. It might seem odd, but even when you feed it into programme without looking at it, you still know it exists. And you still- probably- have an opinion of it.
That means it’s tainted, okay?
And, without being nasty -scientists? Really? Okay, ‘data’ gives us the idea that somehow the stuff you are working with is neutral and believable (no pre-processing huh?). ‘Scientists’ give us the further idea that somehow data is respectable and powerful (no adverts here. Just facts, eh?) Also that you are somehow independent of the data that you collect- on other humans. So even if data scientists did exist (and they don’t) they are actually just social scientists, often working with information collected using instruments other folks have designed.. And I am sure you know how dependable and replicable social science is, anyway? (Not at all is the right answer. Well done!)
Given that data is the Philosopher’s Stone of our current tech boom, this is worrying. Now don’t get me wrong. I think information is important. And I think that the scientific method is critical in making sense of- and operating in- a fluid complex world, Although it is struggling to cope.
So if data scientists did exist they would need to take a more significant role in a wide range of business activities. And they would need to integrate more effectively across operational silos.
And they would also be honest about the quality of data they are currently having to work with- from SurveyMonkey forms that are so badly designed that you don’t know whether to laugh or scream through to revenues that are customised to make the manager collecting them look good. Not to mention the AI that also rests on such data.
If data- which is, after all the new ‘oil’ -remains this bad, than data scientists- who after all don’t exist, will find themselves in an increasingly untenable position. And if the ‘refined oil’ they produce with Python, Anaconda or R, turns out to be snake oil- and fails to fuel the economic growth we badly need, that failure will- despite the fact they don’t exist- be laid squarely at their door.
