Viktor Mayer-Schõnberger & Kenneth Cukier: Big Data: The Next Big Thing

Which paint color is most likely to tell you a used car is in good shape? How did Google searches predict the spread of the H1N1 flu outbreak? The key to answering these questions, and many more, is “big data”—our newfound ability to crunch vast collections of information, analyze them instantly, and draw sometimes-profoundly surprising conclusions from them. Viktor Mayer-Schõnberger and Kenneth Cukier, co-authors of Big Data, explain why the revolution is on par with the Internet (or perhaps even the printing press); how it will change the way we think about business, health, politics, education, and innovation; and how we can protect ourselves from its hazards, from the end of privacy as we know it to the prospect of being penalized for things we haven’t even done, based on big data’s ability to predict our behavior. Presented by Town Hall and University Book Store as part of The Seattle Science Lectures, sponsored by Microsoft. Series media sponsorship provided by KPLU.
Advance tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510 and at the door beginning at 7 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Great Hall;
enter on Eighth Avenue. Triple feature! Admission to this event also gains entry to Mark Russ Federman with Tom Douglas: Reflections & Recipes from Russ & Daughters, at 6 pm, and the UW Science Now event at 9 pm. 

LEARN MORE:
http://bit.ly/THMayer-Schonberger
http://bit.ly/THCukier