Another Reason We Need Open Government Data: To Avoid Information Asymmetries
from the database-of-intentions dept
Can the future aggregate actions of people be predicted from relevant sets of data that describe them? That, of course, is what Isaac Asimov's invented mathematical discipline of psychohistory was supposed to do. Some Japanese researchers claim to have made some progress towards that goal:
These guys have used ideas from statistical mechanics to model the behaviour of humans influenced by word-of-mouth interactions and advertisements. In this paper, Ishii and co derive a bunch of equations that they use to model the number of people who'll turn up to see a movie or visit an art show.
Inspired by this work, Nicklas Lundblad has written an interesting speculative piece about what the rise of predictability through the analysis of huge data sets might mean for society and openness. He notes that one of the "theorems" of psychohistory is that for it to be effective the data sets and the predictions derived from them must be kept secret from the populations involved – the idea being that if they were able to analyze that same data themselves, they might change their actions and thus nullify the predictions.
He points out that this creates a tension between predictability and openness:
There is an assumption here that is worth highlighting. And that is that for a democracy to remain open it can not be predictable by only a few. That is a complex and perhaps provocative assumption that I think we should examine. I believe this to be true, but others will say that our democracy already is predictable, in some sections and instances, only to a few and that they build their power base on that information asymmetry, but that it is reasonably open still. Maybe. But I think that those asymmetries are not systematic to our democracy, but confined to those phenomena, like stock markets, where they are certain to be important, but where they also do not threat the nature of democracy as such.
That, in its turn, is an argument for openness. If data held by a government, say, is released freely, anyone can explore its implications and then be able to modify their actions based on them, and thus escape being a statistical part of the predictability that would otherwise be implied by remaining in ignorance. As Lundblad writes:
In summary, if we share the data and allow everyone to use it, then predictability goes down.If there is a conclusion here it seems to be to explore the amazing value of data under the imperative of openness to the the full extent possible to ensure that our societies gain from this new, fantastic age of data innovation, discovery and exploration that we are entering into, but never compromise on that openness in the pursuit of macro-social predictability.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: information asymmetry, open government
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Raw Data Won�t Be Enough
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Raw Data Won�t Be Enough
Then that person would share it with the world. See how copyright magically promotes progress?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Raw Data Won�t Be Enough
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Raw Data Won�t Be Enough
Luckily, most anything that one person discovers is usually discovered by others. Only a few exceptions to this.
The other good thing to know is most people who discover truly wonderful things also tend to have the personality to find recognition reward enough.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
financial indicators already like this?
I don't know enough about markets to give an example though. Can someone else?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
psychohistory
/pet-peeve
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: psychohistory
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: psychohistory
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Economic Benefit
The global financial crisis was caused by information asymmetry. The misled buyers of CDOs thought they were buying AAA securities. Meanwhile, the sellers knew perfectly well that they were selling junk. When the information asymmetry went away, the price of the securities went down to zero. Vast losses were incurred by the many. The few walked away with vast profits. We are still living through the economic damage so caused.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The global financial crisis was caused by information asymmetry.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
As presented, the theory is disproven
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Funny...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Try this author's take on knowing the future
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I tend to believe that the more accurate our societal modelling becomes, the more it will be used to control societies, almost certainly to benefit those in control.
Perhaps an equally relevant SF reference would be Leto's golden path...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]