Warming up

Warming up for this exciting series of discussion, I read a paper by Rabari et al. (2014) that directly relates to the content of this course. The authors acknowledge that the big data now available will allow us to “see relationships that are obscured by deductive epistemology, and thereby reach a new level of depth and completeness in understanding human social life.” They believe the impact of big data analysis to social sciences can be compared to that of the microscope for natural sciences.

However, they are a bit skeptical about the social effect of big data in terms of increasing the gap between the richer and poorer. On one hand, better management resulting from the use of big data can raise living standards in both large and small, rich and poor cities. On the other hand, it can also attract even more attention and wealth to the cities which can afford the most expensive technologies and offer more comfort to their citizens.

Rabari et al. (op.cit.) end their paper saying that “the real geography of an unevenly-developed world of richer and poorer cities, regions and countries will not be effaced by the digital revolution.” This assertion is in agreement with Picketty’s theory of capital and inequality, according to which society is heading towards a progressive concentration of wealth by individuals, cities and regions, and technology cannot change it.

Piketty (apud Rotman, 2014), contrary to former theories (such as Kuznets’) according to which technological developed diminishes inequality, believes that the opposite is happening, and that it can actually lead to “the triumph of human capital over financial capital and real estate, capable managers over fat cat stockholders, and skill over nepotism largely illusory.”

One interesting discussion that we could see in this series of debates is how new technologies can improve the quality of life from the bottom-up, with more accessible equipment and systems rather than large companies (e.g. IBM and Cisco) turn-key technologies.

References:

Rabari, Chirag and Storper, Michael (2014) The digital skin of cities: urban theory and research in the age of the sensored and metered city, ubiquitous computing and big data. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 8 (1). pp. 27–42. ISSN 1752–1378

Rotman, David (2014) Technology and Inequality. MIT Technology Review. October 21, 2014. Avalable at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531726/technology-and-inequality/