Discussion on:

Big data bonanza: But is IT capable of mining it?

Thanks Peter,

How about the people who invented the Web? People in Physics have a big head start in the Big Data game, as compared to most IT folks. I saw Sau Lan Wu speak a couple of weeks back, about the discovery of the Higgs boson, and she detailed how a whole new big data infrastructure had to be constructed, just so the scientists could compare notes. But unique skills are required to sort things out.

I think the Octonion number system yields great big benefits, including allowing the construction of a fully subjective search engine, but virtually nobody outside of the Advanced Physics and Higher Math crowd has a clue how to use them. Multiplication and division are like putting together or taking apart a watch, where all the sub-assemblies have to fit together. But as you point out; computers are very good at some of this stuff.

You still need plenty of analysts that talk that language, however. A BIG challenge, if you ask me - finding enough qualified people. But I do know some out of work scientists with the chops needed.

Jonathan