Author: ZEYNEP TUFEKCI / Source: New York Times
The promise of data-driven medicine is clear. Using the latest analytical techniques can lead to better health outcomes and — over time as data technology inevitably becomes cheaper and more widely available — help many more people. But as medicine moves from the kind of clinical practice that has informed centuries of treatment to the data-driven practices that have already transformed commerce, finance and the media, it will also find itself facing some of the same social challenges.
In particular, big-data technology might seem like a social neutralizer or even a leveling force, but it can have a way of increasing divisions.One hint at why this is comes from what communications theorists describe as a knowledge gap. Basically, people who already have better information are also better at getting more information, even if that information is in theory universal and available to all. We see this again and again in different fields. In my own research on schools and computers, for example, I often encounter students doing advanced and creative “technology” activities on the computers in well-off schools, and students doing rote learning and typing on the computers in poorer ones. That division means that later on, when the kids face a putatively even playing field, some will know better than others how to get ahead. Privileged kids get more resources not simply because they (or the schools) can afford to pay for them but because their parents are better equipped to advocate for their acceptance into gifted and talented programs, or to academically support them better through tutoring, attention and encouragement — harder tasks for a poor or single parent. There is also the effect of expectations and a lifetime of socialization: If you experience life as unfair,…
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