Anderson describes what he calls the “death of theory?” What did he mean by this statement? In response Kitchin offers a rebuttal to Anderson. What do you think? Has big data killed theory?
Anderson describes what he calls the “death of theory”. He made this statement due to the development of data in today’s world. He said this because he believes that the use of data now is completely different and has surpassed the use of “theory”. He uses the example of Google, and how their founding philosophy is “we don’t know why this page is better than that one”. According to the article, Google uses statistics of incoming links and data to match things such as ads to content or results to searches. Using the example of Google’s use of data, Anderson has come to the conclusion that theory has been killed by the use of data.
On the other hand, Kitchin writes his own paper on the use of big data, and its effects on science. He explains that Big Data is the future of science, and that is the next paradigm in science. In fact, many people support the idea of the fourth paradigm in science being the exploratory science using Big Data. With Big Data, there is no need for theory, models, or hypothesis. Kitchin believes that Big Data is the future for science.
I do not believe that theory is completely dead. Theory is still used today in many different areas of life, but I do believe that Big Data is the future of science. The use of Big Data is extremely advanced and complex, and it does not require the use of theory, models, and hypotheses. I agree with Kitchin that we are in a time of change where we are entering the fourth paradigm. The paradigm where Big Data is the future of science and our world.