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::{{author|W. Edwards Deming}} | ::{{author|W. Edwards Deming}} | ||
If the information content of the universe, through all time and space is ''as good as'' infinite<ref>This assumes there is not a finite end-point to the Universe; by no means settled cosmology, but hardly a rash assumption. And given how little we have of it, the universe’s total information content ''might as well be'' infinite, when compared to our finite collection of mortal data. Even the total, ungathered-by-mortal-hand, information content generated by the whole universe ''to date'', not even counting the unknowable future, is as good as infinite.</ref> and the data ''homo sapiens'' has collected to date is necessarily finite<ref>[[There is no data from the future]].</ref> (even counting what we’ve lost along the way), it follows that the total value of our [[data]] — in which W. Edwards Deming would have us trust — is, like any other number divided by infinity, ''mathematically nil''. | If the information content of the universe, through all time and space is ''as good as'' infinite<ref>This assumes there is not a finite end-point to the Universe; by no means settled cosmology, but hardly a rash assumption. And given how little we have of it, the universe’s total information content ''might as well be'' infinite, when compared to our finite collection of mortal data. Even the total, ungathered-by-mortal-hand, information content generated by the whole universe ''to date'', not even counting the unknowable future, is as good as infinite.</ref> and the data ''homo sapiens'' has collected to date is necessarily finite<ref>[[There is no data from the future]].</ref> (even counting what we’ve lost along the way), it follows that the total value of our [[data]] — in which W. Edwards Deming would have us trust — is, like any other finite number divided by infinity, ''mathematically nil''. | ||
And that is before considering its quality. If 90% of all gathered data originates from the internet age,<ref>Eric Schmidt said something like this in 2011, and it sounds [https://blog.rjmetrics.com/2011/02/07/eric-schmidts-5-exabytes-quote-is-a-load-of-crap/ totally made up], but let’s run with it, hey?</ref> a good portion is of our summed human knowledge takes form of cat videos and hot takes on [[Twitter]] — so is ''shite'' data, even on its own terms.<ref>[[Get off Twitter]], okay? For all of our sakes.</ref> | And that is before considering its quality. If 90% of all gathered data originates from the internet age,<ref>Eric Schmidt said something like this in 2011, and it sounds [https://blog.rjmetrics.com/2011/02/07/eric-schmidts-5-exabytes-quote-is-a-load-of-crap/ totally made up], but let’s run with it, hey?</ref> a good portion is of our summed human knowledge takes form of cat videos and hot takes on [[Twitter]] — so is ''shite'' data, even on its own terms.<ref>[[Get off Twitter]], okay? For all of our sakes.</ref> | ||