Introduction: Big Data – Digital Technology, Loads of Empirical Materials, and a Daring Vision

Abstract

The daring vision of using big data technology to substantially advance the scientific understanding of human nature, individually and socially, and possibly solve age-old challenges of bridging the subjective and objective sides of human nature, rests on substantial assumptions about the concept of a human being. The daring big data vision may at the same time, in itself, serve to change the very concept of a human, regardless of how well the vision’s assumptions and prospects hold up to scrutiny. This issue of the European Review presents an attempt to critically engage with the question of how this complex situation affects the content and prospects of the vision of reconsidering humanity with the help of big data. In this introduction, the landscape of the issue is sketched and some general remarks of where the emerging map might take future research are made. In general, even if the assumptions of the daring big data vision turn out wanting, pragmatic factors may very well transform our own image of ourselves to fit it.