Big Data Reduction 3: From Descriptive to Prescriptive

Hey Michael,

Yes, I see your point about prescription not requiring automation. However, I think you need to be clear to your readers WHY it is only a guide (do you mean heuristic?) and not a "rule to follow". The distinction between the two has been a critical one for the last 30 years in AI and all its derivatives. Either you build the logic into a system, and it becomes automated, or you leave it as advice about the most likely decisions leading to an explicit outcome, and it remains contingent on human judgment. If the latter is your point then predictive analytics is sufficient for the decision-making involved.

Someday perhaps I can take the time to engage you on the discussion of influence and sentiment analysis that you offered here in the past. Like many in the "hard" sciences who turn their attention to social things, and here I put you in the same basket with Duncan Watts whose work I truely respect, you do seem to forget that human beings take action socially, and that they in fact take meaningful action when they engage in activity on social networks. Social meaning works at the group and individual level. Otherwise, we wouldn't have need of subjective probability.

Regards,

Larry