Big Data is not the answer

The views expressed below are my own and do not reflect those of my employer or its clients. The underlying assumption is that the main objective of science and technology is to help solve the biggest challenges faced by humans, to name a few; climate change, cancer, incompetent rulers, etc. The objective is not necessarily the creation of maximum economic value (the two are not mutually exclusive in theory at least). The movement of science and technology is towards the shores of artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with the hope that it might unlock some of the biggest mysteries of our world. We can all agree that there is a lot of hype about AI.