The future may be powered by data, but it must be piloted by humans

Of the six most valuable companies in the world, five are tech firms, whose worth is embodied less in physical assets than in intellectual property and customer data. Apple and Microsoft provide the tools to connect people, and to collect and process data. Google, Facebook and Amazon provide services, and in return accumulate more data about each customer than has ever been possible before. In seventh place trails Exxon Mobil, an illustration of the well-worn assertion that data is the new oil to fuel the next industrial revolution. If data is the new oil, what is the equivalent of the internal combustion engine, that turned fossil fuels from a cleaner fluid for oil lamps to a world-changing energy source for cars, tractors and aeroplanes?