Big Data Reduction 3: From Descriptive to Prescriptive

I just barely think that predictive analytics can go beyond fairly simple inferences based on geo-location. The concept of prescriptive analytics seems to imply that you think analytics can become an automated system, albeit with feedback loops, to guide action by a client (organization). I find this whole concept difficult to swallow as a person with a PhD in social science. People are predictable until the point that something significant changes in their daily lives and, at that point, they are no longer.