Motes in the Data Stream

First, I must say that many of my job experiences have touched on the data collection and analysis issues presented so well in a recent book called The Numerati by Stephen Baker. Whether you are technically-minded or a technophobe, Steve presents a very interesting read on an aspect of technology that has been growing exponentially for years.

Yes, big brothers or sisters are watching you, though not always in the ways you may expect or fear. In most cases, you are not being singled out for attention, but are being constantly assigned to peer groups, tribes, or market segments using statistically determined information collected about you, your family, your household, or anything else that can help a marketer target you with significant offers or options that generate revenue for the marketer's organization. More insidious uses are also implied by these techniques when used for industrial espionage. worker monitoring, political campaigning, or national security. I won't elaborate further- Steve Baker has already covered these and other uses of advanced data mining and modeling in his book. If interested, buy it and read it.

Some key technologies have made all of these manipulative approaches possible. These technologies continue to evolve. The Internet, clusters of servers, analytical databases and tools that crunch huge volumes of data, massively parallel computing, business intelligence, data warehousing, social networking, analytical customer relationship management, and on-line commerce are just a few worth mentioning. One of the points I find interesting is that all of these technologies were designed or developed to address other needs-mostly internal management requirements of large corporations or the statistical requirements of researchers. But now, very bright people, Baker's Numerati, are figuring out other applications that could use technology to manipulate micro and macro behaviors of people and groups of people.

Perhaps we should take a hard look at these outcomes before they truly result in some Orwellian or worse dystopia. As did Oppenheimer and his fellows, we may be releasing a very large and unwholesome genie from the bottle. Or possibly we already released it.

Cinders of Transcendance

"In this production of the classic fairy tale by Austin Lyric Opera, Cinderella is transported to the magical land of 1930's Hollywood musicals. One thing hasn't changed, though - and that's the timeless beauty of Gioachino Rossini's transcendent score."

Someone writing the above copy for tonight's KLRU PBS broadcast of Cinderella may have been a little over the top, or even out of this world, in their choice of "transcendent" as an aesthetic judgement for Rossini's music. Though not as well known or popular as the current ALO production of Rigoletto, La Cenerontola is indeed a classic fairy tale that fits well inside the semi-mythical setting of Hollywood's movie musicals. I also believe some of this score to be great and timeless music, but the quote made me think about why the opera itself is so apt to a drastic change in its presentation. This line of thought led me into the realms of philosophy, including some forks into epistemology, rationalism, psychology, and some of the other branches of the tree of knowledge.

"To say of something which is that it is not, or to say of something which is not that it is, is false. However, to say of something which is that it is, or of something which is not that it is not, is true." - Aristotle

First, I have been accused of being both skeptic and optimist--a combination that may complement the rationalist label I would most often apply to myself. Seeking the truth of a proposition using logic seems to me the best approach, though as I've grown older the issues of belief and ethics have impinged ever more heavily on my deliberations.

The Cinderella story embodied in this opera presents archetypical characters that occur often in folklore, literature, and other forms of storytelling throughout the history and pre-history of humans. The heroine may even be an epitome of the Magical/Innocent Child Survival personality archetype classified by Jung. Cinderella, like Candide, is faced with aspects of "the problem of evil" in "the best of all possible worlds" embodied in the behavior of her fellow characters. With even superficial review, traits of other archetypes known as the Devil, Angel, Knight, Kingmaker, Child Hero, Professor, or Kindly Mentor quickly emerge from this libretto. And, as dictated by our expectations of an ideal ending for these stock characters, the good people are rewarded with "living happily ever after" while the bad get their just deserts.

Okay, I know that's a lot of over-simplification. But I think it sets the Cinderella story squarely where it belongs in the context of this adaptation. A classic story with characters immediately identifiable to the audience is relatively easy to recast in time and space, especially from a mythical kingdom into a mythical Hollywood. Best of all, our heroine transcends all adversity singing gorgeous music.

"True philosophy must at all costs be idealistic; indeed, it must be so merely to be honest." - Shopenhauer

Dust of Centuries

"In God we trust, all others bring data." - W. Edwards Deming

"Trust no one, not even yourself." - Josef Stalin

"In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." - Thomas Jefferson

"America is always becoming." - Walt Whitman

"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit." - President John F. Kennedy

"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one...And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." - Theodore Parker

"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"a liberal man is too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel." - Robert Frost

"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution" - Emma Goldman

"intellectual activity consists mainly of various kinds of search." - Alan Turing