Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
June 10, 2021

The True Nature of Data

The True Nature of Data
BY: TARTLE

What is the nature of data? 

This question came up in the MIT article we recently discussed. It’s a very good question, as the nature of data has a lot to say about how we should treat it and what sort of policies and practices should govern it. Let’s look at a few ideas on the nature of data.

One obvious analogy is to liken data to oil, or most any natural resource. Just as oil or copper needs to be drawn out of the earth, data needs to be drawn from its natural environment in the digital world. Yet, just because the data has been mined, it is still no more useful than unrefined oil. To have its potential unlocked, it has be processed. Oil when refined can be used as gas, plastics, and any number of other products. Data, when refined can help you determine business practices, how to develop your next product, or how to market an existing one. 

That seems like a pretty good analogy, but is it complete?

Let’s take a look at another. Weather is a potential analog. How so? It is something that we often can only react to, it simply does what it does with no regard to anything but the laws of nature. Data is similar in some ways. It simply is what it is. In its raw form it merely reflects the way things behave. Often, we can’t do much to direct it, and can only react. This analogy isn’t as strong since we can do a much better job of manipulating data than we can the weather. Yet, it does reflect the perspective of the average person who doesn’t know a lot about data and how it can be used. Once the talking heads start spouting numbers, most people will feel like they just got hit by a hurricane. 

Let’s do one more, this time comparing data to a tool. A tool is something that is neutral. It was made for a specific purpose but could be used for many. A hammer can be used to build a house or it can be a murder weapon. Likewise, data in itself is neutral. It can be used to help us understand the world better and to improve our lives and those of others, or it can be used to manipulate and control. 

This is a little better than the weather analogy, but still is only somewhat complete. What is it missing? The same thing all of these analogies are missing – the human element. Every piece of data represents something that was generated directly by a person, by machinery built by people, or that can be used to affect the life of another person. 

Social data in particular has a significant human element. This is the data we generate online, when we travel, when we use our credit cards to make a purchase. It’s all the data that reflects our lives, our daily interactions with others, the choices we make and even the desires that drive them. 

What then is the nature of data, or at least of social data? Its nature is an expression of our humanity. It’s an archive of our lives. So, how should we treat it? We need to treat it with far greater care than a tool, or a natural resource, and more respect than we do the weather. We need to recognize that these are not mere ones and zeroes connected to be exploited and manipulated in whatever way seems convenient. Data is something that reveals a great deal about people and how we choose to live our lives. That’s why TARTLE is committed to putting the power of their data back in the hands of the people who generate it, to give control back to the individual. In that way, people can again have a say in how others view them and their choices, or if they even get to view them at all. With enough support, we can get the corporations to realize that behind all that data, is a person.

What’s your data worth?

Summary
The True Nature of Data
Title
The True Nature of Data
Description

Just as oil or copper needs to be drawn out of the earth, data needs to be drawn from its natural environment in the digital world. Yet, just because the data has been mined, it is still no more useful than unrefined oil.

Feature Image Credit: Envato Elements
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For those who are hard of hearing – the episode transcript can be read below:

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:07):

Welcome to TARTLEcast, with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and source data defines the path.

Alexander McCaig (00:19):

What's up, Jason?

Jason Rigby (00:26):

What is up, Alex?

Alexander McCaig (00:28):

There was a quote that we read in the MIT review and it talks about what is the true nature of data.

Jason Rigby (00:39):

That's a philosophical question right there.

Alexander McCaig (00:41):

Yeah. It is somewhat philosophical. And then after you understand its true nature, how do you govern it? So let's talk about how these are somewhat contradicting. Does anyone in this world right now tell a hurricane what to do?

Jason Rigby (00:58):

No, you can't.

Alexander McCaig (01:00):

No. So the hurricane has its own nature, it's bound by its own physical laws and it does its own thing. We can't govern that. It is its own sovereign piece of weather, doing what it chooses to do. Its true nature is to spin, rain, blow wind and destroy things. It's a hurricane. There's no governing over the laws of nature.

Jason Rigby (01:27):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (01:27):

We aren't above that as human beings. And so when we look at data and it says, what is the true nature of data and how do you govern it? It's a contradicting sentence because you can't govern nature.

Jason Rigby (01:40):

No.

Alexander McCaig (01:41):

Nature governs you, you're bound by its laws. Data, in its true nature, all it is, is a by-product of our interactions with something electronic, that's what data is. We take in data through our eyes, through our senses, through all these different things and our mind interprets it, and then from that, we either come to some sort of conscious thought or we change our motor function to do a specific action. We're processing biological data. It has its own nature. It's still bound by those physical laws, but we can't govern it and tell it what to do, it just is what it is.

Alexander McCaig (02:19):

And so we look at the nature of data in this world right now, it's information, it's our interactions. And then it's how we share that information over these electronic mediums. It's speed, how fast it travels is bound by physics.

Jason Rigby (02:34):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (02:35):

It's quality of data is bound by the quality of our collection of that data or how we actually interpret it or how that value is then translated back to society itself. So the nature of data, in my mind, is this thing that is essentially self-governed. We, as people, as human beings, create it. So in its nature, data is a reflection of the human being and its interactions. Does that make sense?

Jason Rigby (03:09):

Yeah. No, that makes sense. Yeah. It almost, I don't want to use this word, but I'm going to, because it's almost like the soul.

Alexander McCaig (03:17):

Yeah.

Jason Rigby (03:17):

It shows the intent of us as who we are. It shows the deepest, darkest secrets of us. If they pulled all our data, like Google can with...

Alexander McCaig (03:26):

Yeah. If you start yanking my dreams, all the words I'm saying right now.

Jason Rigby (03:30):

Right, my thoughts.

Alexander McCaig (03:30):

All of my thoughts, all that stuff, that data in itself, it's that by-product of what it means to be human being. So the nature of data is all but a by-product of human beings interacting with one another and interacting with themselves.

Jason Rigby (03:46):

And it's collecting that information.

Alexander McCaig (03:48):

And there's no one there to govern that except for the people that create it.

Jason Rigby (03:52):

Yeah. And I like on this article, in this MIT article, they talked about Zoom and how their market capitalization surpass ExxonMobil. And then they said, "When we see these data companies becoming monsters..." But the analogy of using oil as data, like the extraction, processing it, giving it value. I think that those are kind of like the new oil, if you could picture that in that way...

Alexander McCaig (04:21):

Data has to be refined.

Jason Rigby (04:22):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (04:24):

It needs to be worked and labored on, right? Your thoughts, in your mind, you have to work at those thoughts for it to become a good thought before you start sharing ideas, you don't want to share a stupid idea. Right? You want to make sure it's well thought through. You got to put the time and the labor into it, and that increases the value of it. So this by-product of you, this by-product of your thoughts and your digital interactions, this data, it requires a little bit of labor, right? It requires that sort of processing so that it translates to you, and it makes sense to Jason, what I'm saying and thinking, my data is being received properly through your ears.

Jason Rigby (04:58):

Right. And the car sharing company example they used, I thought was really cool. They have all this data about where we journey, what we do. And then they said, "Should some of that be shared with the public transit authorities?" So now you're getting into this private sector government, how does it help humanity? What is the analysis of data? And then how can it be... I mean, for instance, how many people buy a bottle of water?

Alexander McCaig (05:26):

Too many.

Jason Rigby (05:27):

And then you have municipalities that... it's like, why can't what comes out of the sink be perfectly fine for me to drink?

Alexander McCaig (05:33):

Yeah. I mean, just look at what they're doing in France, they have those water fill up stations absolutely everywhere.

Jason Rigby (05:38):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (05:39):

And it's great water.

Jason Rigby (05:40):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (05:40):

It truly is really good water. It's interesting how we misdirect ourselves and I've loved the fact that even from the car sharing standpoint, blending with government transportation, well frankly, it's just more efficient. Private industry, all the time, is always going to be more efficient than a government. That's just what it is. There's just less red tape and people can innovate faster with less restriction, but that sort of world takes time to get to. And right now, we need to figure out how we just manage the data that makes that sort of world happen. And we've done a poor job of it, and when it asks how to govern it, well, you can't really govern nature, but you can govern yourself and your choices, the person creating that data, if I'm the progenitor of it, and data's my by-product, I need to look at my own self-governance. I need to reflect on what I am creating and how I actually work that asset, that new type of asset that isn't accounted for in GDP, but it's so valuable altogether in our stock markets, right? It's such a key driver for our economy.

Jason Rigby (06:52):

And Tim O'Reilly with O'Reilly Media, he talked about this, he invented open source, Web 2.0, all that stuff. He talked about Google Maps. And I think this goes right into what you're saying, he's like, "I expect when I'm giving my data to Google maps, to give me insight of where I'm going, reviews, the restaurant, the pictures, whatever it may be. I expect that from Google Maps, but I don't expect them to take my data and then turn around and..."

Alexander McCaig (07:16):

Resell it.

Jason Rigby (07:16):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (07:17):

But that's what they do. But that is their business, that is how they were fundamentally designed. Why is it that I'm on Google maps and it pulls up a restaurant and then it forces me to go to Yelp?

Jason Rigby (07:30):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (07:30):

That's because there's a contract, there's a deal, they want to make money. They don't just want to give you all the information. It's always about how does somebody else get a piece of that resource before you?

Jason Rigby (07:40):

That third party.

Alexander McCaig (07:41):

Yeah. Before you get knowledge, you got to pay up. That's the problem with school. Why am I paying for something that at its absolute core benefits me and society? This elevates all of us when we're all educated, so why would we put up some sort of red tape that prevents people from getting the best quality education, anywhere.

Jason Rigby (08:00):

Yes, 100%.

Alexander McCaig (08:01):

Why are we commercializing these things that shouldn't be commercialized? Why are we turning people into these digital commodities when they should be treated like human beings? Why are we saying that a government or all these other political bodies need to govern data when people need to self-govern the thing that they're creating? It's their byproduct.

Jason Rigby (08:18):

Right. It's like in this pandemic with... I remember in California, which we all know the situation there, but where they weren't allowing people to go do... They specifically said you can't do yoga or martial arts out on the beach, in the sunlight.

Alexander McCaig (08:35):

Don't do healthy things.

Jason Rigby (08:36):

You can't surf.

Alexander McCaig (08:38):

Don't go into the salt water.

Jason Rigby (08:39):

How social distancing are you when you're surfing? How many times are you going get [inaudible 00:08:43]?

Alexander McCaig (08:43):

You couldn't be any freaking further away from somebody-

Jason Rigby (08:46):

You're in the water, away from the city.

Alexander McCaig (08:48):

Buddy, I'm shredding the gnar, do not tell me I'm going to get a COVID out in the Pacific ocean.

Jason Rigby (08:54):

Yeah. How many have gotten COVID in salt water, in the sunlight?

Alexander McCaig (08:58):

I was in my wetsuit out in the sunlight being real healthy, shredding the gnar.

Jason Rigby (09:02):

But I mean, to me-

Alexander McCaig (09:05):

I'm constantly bathing.

Jason Rigby (09:06):

... government is super ineffective in governing. And I know we call it government, but it scares me when the government gets involved with data.

Alexander McCaig (09:17):

Yeah, because first of all, I understand why they're trying to get involved because people see the economic value in it now.

Jason Rigby (09:25):

Lobbyists are pushing them. Yeah.

Alexander McCaig (09:27):

And with that, naturally everybody wants to get their hands in the pot, but we need to go back to the real supportive base, and that supportive base are human beings. Human beings need to self-govern their own data. They need to be responsible for the things they create. And if they want the value of that thing they create, well then they need to appropriate it to the proper tools, don't pass the responsibility off

Jason Rigby (09:52):

Yeah. And it says, "Data has distinctive traits and dynamics, which must be factored into any robust interpreted framework." This article is so amazing. "This includes its re-usability."

Alexander McCaig (10:03):

Yeah. That's cool thing about data, it's not like I buy a vase on eBay, it's been used once, oh crap. What about the other 30,000 people that wanted that vase? That's the cool part about data, it's an intangible.

Jason Rigby (10:16):

That machine learning algorithm from eBay can turn around and serve other vases that are like that to the other 30,000 people that are looking for a vase.

Alexander McCaig (10:22):

It will never be that specific piece.

Jason Rigby (10:24):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (10:24):

And the cool part about data is that you can re-appropriate that data as many times as you want, wherever you need to do so. It has such great flexibility. Right? But again, that's that double-edged sword. Well, how does the control work? How does the progenitor, how does the provenance of that data continue to track itself so that we know that Jason is the person, even though it's been copied 30, 40, 5,000 times, that you're the original person that created it, it's got your earmark on it.

Jason Rigby (10:52):

Yeah. And I think they stole this quote from you in the article, they said this, "Valuing data means understanding who participated in its creation."

Alexander McCaig (11:01):

I've literally just said that.

Jason Rigby (11:04):

I guarantee you've said that years ago. Years ago.

Alexander McCaig (11:08):

Yeah. Years. Yeah.

Jason Rigby (11:10):

"But government for instance, has been essential investments in both the technology and the data systems today from GPS and in of itself, yet they still do not see themselves as value creators. Once you see the way that government funds technological progress, it becomes not just a regulator, an administrator, a market fixer, but an investor and a value creator."

Alexander McCaig (11:30):

Yeah. You're investing in people and when people take responsibility for their data, they're investing in themselves.

Jason Rigby (11:38):

So then it takes it and it says, "Viewing data through the lens of the participants involved in its value creation," which you've talked about this a hundred times, "In turn inform sensible versus misguided remedies." And it goes into what's important is not to make accusations against big tech, what's important is getting into the nitty gritty of how algorithms are being used.

Alexander McCaig (11:59):

Yeah. No. Listen-

Jason Rigby (12:00):

I think that's a very fair approach.

Alexander McCaig (12:02):

I think that's a non-combative approach and that's what I'm saying, you don't have to combat and say, "That's the bad guy."

Jason Rigby (12:07):

Is Facebook bad or not? Is Mark Zuckerberg going to the Bohemian Grove? We don't know.

Alexander McCaig (12:13):

We don't know. But listen, nothing is inherently bad.

Jason Rigby (12:16):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (12:16):

Okay. It's just that how we are using these things that are naturally agnostic, data's completely unbiased.

Jason Rigby (12:24):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (12:25):

All it is is just it is what it is. It's not good or bad. It's not positive or negative. It's just is data. Right? So when you take that concept and it's like, it is the tech company, but it's how they choose to use specific things. And if we choose to run algorithms a specific way, the algorithm should be agnostic, it shouldn't be biased.

Jason Rigby (12:44):

Yeah. And I like what he said when he was talking about, "There's no possibility of accessing digital service that doesn't compel me to go along with the surveillance and advertising economy." He was talking about, he can buy a ticket from Southwest airlines and then he knows that his data's getting sold to Facebook.

Alexander McCaig (12:59):

Yeah, of course.

Jason Rigby (13:00):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (13:00):

And that's the part that...

Jason Rigby (13:02):

Now they know what time you're traveling, where you're traveling to.

Alexander McCaig (13:05):

That's the part that sucks.

Jason Rigby (13:06):

And then they know that you're at the airport-

Alexander McCaig (13:08):

They've all tied themselves into one another, so that they can come back and just keep double-dipping out of your pockets.

Jason Rigby (13:13):

Yes.

Alexander McCaig (13:14):

They're only looking at you as a money resource. They're not looking at it like you as a human being, the algorithms don't look at you as a human being,

Jason Rigby (13:22):

But it it's more than double-dipping, it's like 10X dipping, because now they're serving you ads, you're clicking on those, they're making money off those. Now they're serving you ads to the place that you're vacationing too, and so then now that restaurant paid them to put that out there. You see what I'm saying? It's that reusable part that we need to understand.

Alexander McCaig (13:40):

Yeah and that's that reuse that data. There is great benefit in being able to advertise, especially for small businesses in very specific locales, that is a huge benefit to what Facebook has done.

Jason Rigby (13:56):

Huge.

Alexander McCaig (13:57):

That no one else has been able to do.

Jason Rigby (13:58):

No other company could be able to be... If you're smart with Facebook, you can get so sniper focused, where a small business could... I mean, in the old days you couldn't market if you didn't have at least five grand a month.

Alexander McCaig (14:14):

And it's opened up marketing to small mom and pops.

Jason Rigby (14:18):

Online marketing?

Alexander McCaig (14:19):

Yeah. And, listen, that is very beneficial, but the double-edged sword is the amount of tracking it's getting inundated and how that data is being used, and who's actually reaping the benefits of it. That marketing system doesn't work unless there's people.

Jason Rigby (14:36):

Period.

Alexander McCaig (14:36):

It's as simple as that.

Jason Rigby (14:38):

Using the product.

Alexander McCaig (14:39):

Yeah. Even though you're serving someone an ad, you should still give them a cut.

Jason Rigby (14:43):

Yes, yes. Yeah.

Alexander McCaig (14:45):

You truly should.

Jason Rigby (14:46):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (14:47):

Because your systems don't work at all, anywhere, for anybody without those people you're serving the ad to.

Jason Rigby (14:53):

Yeah. I mean, incentivizing, we could get into the rat hole, but you could turn around and say, "I guarantee if you click on any ads on Facebook, once you click on that, and then it goes to that, we've already worked a deal out with that company where you're going to get the lowest, best possible price."

Alexander McCaig (15:09):

Yeah.

Jason Rigby (15:09):

Now, now you're benefiting consumers. I mean, and prices and everything, we can get into that, but at least there's a benefit to the consumer for purchasing something. And now you've offset, without actually giving them money, like we do with TARTLE, but you can offset at least some of that free data that you're giving. Costco does that, like if you find a lower price, you can bring it in. I think Best Buy does that.

Alexander McCaig (15:34):

You know how much of a hassle it is though?

Jason Rigby (15:35):

Yeah. Go into the...

Alexander McCaig (15:36):

They're like, "Yeah, we'll do it, but you got to bring it in."

Jason Rigby (15:38):

Yeah. And then bring the ad in and whatever.

Alexander McCaig (15:39):

I don't want to bring it in. Yeah.

Jason Rigby (15:43):

And I feel like a miser, because it's $3 cheaper on Amazon. I got a friend who does that with Best Buy, everything, just scans it real quick and says, "Oh, it's $6 cheaper." And then they honor that.

Alexander McCaig (15:55):

Yeah. And then that's what they do, but...

Jason Rigby (15:59):

Summarize it.

Alexander McCaig (16:02):

What we do in this world, all these great inventions, the true nature of these inventions, they should always have one single purpose, and that is strictly the evolution of a human being.

Jason Rigby (16:17):

Yes. Period.

Alexander McCaig (16:18):

Nothing else.

Jason Rigby (16:19):

Yeah. Nothing else.

Alexander McCaig (16:21):

If profiteering comes first, don't do it.

Jason Rigby (16:24):

Right.

Alexander McCaig (16:24):

If it isolates people and puts them in specific groups, don't do it. If it separates things, don't do it. If it's political, don't do it. If it's dogmatic, do not do it. But if it evolves who we are, non dogmatically, truly increases the quality of life, we should focus on it in that way. We should develop and redeveloped technology towards that path.

Jason Rigby (16:49):

I love that. I love that. That's great.

Alexander McCaig (16:51):

All right, thank you.

Jason Rigby (16:52):

Must be done.

Alexander McCaig (16:52):

Thank you, MIT, for that.

Jason Rigby (16:53):

Yes, great article.

Alexander McCaig (16:55):

Peace.

Speaker 1 (17:03):

Thank you for listening to TARTLEcast with your hosts Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and source data defines the path. What's your data worth?