Our Data is Who We Are

Our senses are the beginning of how we form ideas about reality and ultimately how we interpret our experience of it. In this post, I talk about some of my philosophy on data and what we can do to take better care of our wellbeing through conscious effort to understand the relationship between the data we use and how it affects our perception.

Data is What Makes Us Who We Are

Data is Context

Like every living creature, humans need to make sense of the world around us. We do this first and foremost in our bodies; through touch, sight, sound, smell, our thoughts, and so on. We also build a sense of our world through communication. This vital flow of data is how we build a model of the world in these strange fleshy computers we call bodies.

From a computer and information science persepective, data is programming. We react to our environment in response to the data we receive from it. This isn't new insight. It's something humanity has known for millennia at least. In Buddhist tradition, there is a teaching:

We become what what we perceive, and it takes wisdom to recognize this process and intervene when our values and our perception are in a state of incoherence.

Sharing Data in the Modern World

In the very recent history of the universe, the flow of data has become global. Not so long ago, news from the next town over wouldn't reach us for days or even weeks, while today we have access to video streams from across the globe, delivered in seconds. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has led many to take a more global perspective. At the same time, it has also made it easier for centralized media services with opaque motives to poke and prod their audiences into assuming different thoughts, words, actions, and ultimately states of being.

So we have a dilemma. Modern technology has the potential to create a global network of sensory information, allowing humans to solve problems and react to novel threats in a manner never before seen. At the same time it also has the potential to become a tool of mass surveillance and behavioral programming that robs us of our agency and leaves us impotent in the face of those very same threats. What are we to make of this? How should humans thinkabout data, information, and the technology used to move, modify, and present it?

The Process of Knowing

One area in which modern information technology is sorely lacking is the accountability of data. The process of how data is originated and how it got to our little devices is almost always entirely hidden. The data we have access to is just whatever pops up in our news feeds and search engines, without even the option of investigating why that particular website or news article was chosen among thousands or even millions of alternatives.

One way to begin cracking open this problem is to start rethinking our relationship to data. I've organized some suggestions below, and in a later post I'll give some examples of what these steps mean for technology.

Step 1: Keep Track of the Data You Use

Starting to monitor which data we are being exposed to is the start of taking responsibility for how we react to that data. If instead we just allow data to enter our awareness and then forget about its details, it becomes impossible to discern why we think what we do. Do I believe this because I read it somewhere? Did I hear about in a video? A news article? When did I learn this? On whose authority am I relying? None of these questions can be answered if we don't have access to at least some information about the data that has passed into our awareness.

Step 2: Keep Track of the Context in Which You Use Data

Once we are aware of the data we are using, we can start to monitor the context in which we used that data. Did you read a news article on bus or on the couch? Did you get a notification or did you choose to open the data on your own time? How were you feeling before you interacted with the data? Ater?

Step 3: Understand How the Data You Use Affects You

Once we are keeping track of the data we use, we can start to see patterns in how our beliefs and actions are influenced by that data. Some data may seem to have little affect on us, while other data may significantly alter our beliefs or state of mind. Noticing and possibly keeping a record of these effects can help use better understand the nuanced relationship we have with data and help us consciously discern data that is helpful from data that is not.

Step 4: Understand the Sources of the Data You Use

Data comes from a variety of places. Asking questions about the when, where, and who of our data can help us build a better understanding of our own mind and behavior. Some of the major questions we ask ourselves should be:

Step 5: Consider the Limitations of Data

Data is always a lossy representation of reality. Even our body can't keep track of every little input it receives from our physical sense. We can't expect much more from our little computers with their puny terabytes of data. Choosing how to represent and use data is philisophical and moral pursuit. Don't take it lightly!

Conclusions

There really are an unimaginable number of questions we could ask about relationships between data, data sources, and our understanding of the world around us. Building a peaceful and respectful worldview takes work, and unfortunately most of the information tools avaiable to us today don't make that work convenient or intuitive. Stay tuned for some ideas on how technology could improve in this area.