Dataism, Blockchain and Advertising: What will the Data Say?
Read the full article by Henry Zhang — Adrealm Marketing Director — on LinkedIn
“Recently I had finished reading the best-seller Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow written by Yuval Noah Harari. As the sequel of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, this book does not only echo the evolvement of human behavior and formation of society, but also predicts what the world will be like when AI, IoT and big data dominate, which are perhaps more powerful than any existing religion. Mr.Harari uses the recently coined term “dataism” to describe what it is and what it will do to our society (and to individual life) if it becomes the reality — viz., that everything can be viewed and analyzed based on the collection of data. When that happens, I will be asking: What is the real me? Should I follow the voice of my heart, or idolize a sophisticated report of the digitalized me?
I am not so ambitious as to attempt to summarize everything Mr.Harari discusses; but dataism does remind me of where advertising is heading, and how blockchain technology is going to be the newest gamechanger for the industry.
When we take a look at technological revolutions — the past and the ongoing ones alike — and ask what they have bestowed on us, the most important change I assume, is the greater control of what happens. Data, statistics, and codes are capable of explaining almost anything. In some respects, we are our own prophets.
Advertising applies the rule. The earliest commercial advertising was just painted walls and rocks. By the 19th century, newspaper advertisements and professional advertising agencies emerged. In the early and late 20th century, radio and television prevailed, which turned the static images and texts of printed media into vivid human voices and appealing videos. As industrialization marched onward, media channels increased, and the advertising industry grew rapidly. As more of the world became commercialized (and some became highly commercialized), another revolution took place: the Internet.”
Read the full article by Henry Zhang — Adrealm Marketing Director — on LinkedIn
