Data ownership will increase data’s value and alter the course of humanity.
Currently all data is “cold.” It lacks utility, is non interactive, and hard to vet for it’s own accuracy. Data ownership will change this. Data ownership will create warm data. Here’s the difference. If we buy data from a sole third party broker to build a new product or map a marketing strategy. We have to hope each of the data points and their context are accurate because we can’t interact with them or the people behind those data points. If we buy data from a broker that embodies people data ownership. All those data points can be interacted with, questioned, and cross examined versus the sole third party broker whose data must be taken at face value.
“Warm,” or people owned sourced data points can be questioned, they can be augmented. If we’re talking clinical research, it can reduce variables. Imagine looking at 10 different studies and using the same participants for an 11th meta study. Imagine being able to send surveys to the people behind each data point. This can be ideal for R&D beyond just medicine and drug development, but any industry and especially marketing. This increases the efficiency of research. From drug development to sports teams attire, interactive data allows for companies to zero in on the information they desire most and diminishes the amount of data they need to do so. It allows for various studies to interact with each other and in the future as we build this warm interactive data set, creates an unparalleled possibility with research that humans have yet to accomplish.
Data is just quantified information. Somewhere between amassing this information and distributing the ownership of it from individuals to those small groups amassing it, we’ve lost the true utility of that information. The information has gone cold. It can’t be interacted with or augmented or questioned for accuracy. Which in turn has created this unorganized mess of recorded information. This is easy to say in hindsight and humans are awesome for what we’re doing with big data. However we would be more awesome if we decentralized the ownership of it from small groups to the collective individual. Not only is this more efficient for research and development but also for society. As more automation and A.I utilizes big data, the more scarce work will be.
Data ownership can be a realistic universal basic income that doesn’t impede on any political boundaries and actually unifies them. People create the data, so them getting revenue share isn’t a handout or infringement on someone else’s income like conservatives may argue for tax fueled universal basic income. So If data ownership is so awesome, why don’t we have it yet? Well it’s hard for most people to visualize data let alone imagine everything happening to their information. Not to mention all the special interests involved in brokering data and sharing its revenue.
There is currently legislation like Maryland House Bill 892. Politicians like California governor Gavin Newsom, and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang are championing data ownership. It will come and it will make research more efficient. It will keep society afloat in the 21st century. It will be of magnitudes compared to fire and printing press for human development. We might not be able to see data ownership in 2019, but as the years and decades progress we will champion for it’s existence among humanity.
