Big data is about processing large amounts of data. It is often associated with multiplicities of data. But the ability to generate data outpaces the ability to store it.
Future technology won’t just be a gadget we use, it will re-structure our societies.
Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock
Throughout history, whenever new technologies have emerged that change our means of production and ability to communicate they have tended to transform society. The rapid technological development of the…
Ched Evans takes a drink while playing for Sheffield United in 2010.
Jon Candy
As the directors of Oldham Athletic football club consider their options over the possible hiring of Ched Evans, the case of the convicted rapist trying to go back to work has thrown up a catalogue of…
Studying one subject won’t help save the world.
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Across the globe, we are experiencing rapid changes to our environment and social structures. Climate change, population growth, and social unrest are causing ever increasing problems. The rate of change…
Being ‘high-brow’, like Tim Key, draws in the awards.
Danny Lawson/PA
Among the 1,000 or so comedians who have been jostling for attention at this year’s Edinburgh festival fringe, two grabbed a disproportionate amount of headlines. Both occupy prime slots in big venues…
Empires were built through the art of war.
kaptainkobold
According to British historian Arnold Toynbee, “History is just one damned thing after another.” Or is it? That is the question Peter Turchin of the University of Connecticut in Storrs tries to answer…
This election is a serious choice about the type of society we want to become.
AAP
In a recent lecture, Ross Garnaut argued that after decades of prosperity, Australians must now choose between two radically different approaches to our problems. The choice is between a “business as usual…
From White Australia onwards, have the attitudes of Australian society and the government on migration and asylum really changed over time?
EPA/Stringer
For a nation largely comprised of “boat people”, asylum has generated the most debate, and at times hysteria, of all immigration matters in Australia. Is this due to what multiculturalism academic Ghassan…
Nothing is ever perfect, so why do we pretend it should be?
Romana Klee
We can readily be forgiven for thinking that these are the worst of times: our collective institutions seem feeble in the face of our needs and hopes. The Christian churches - which were once powerful…
Eddie McGuire has found himself trying to explain away his ‘brain-fade’ where he vilified Sydney player Adam Goodes.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire’s week has seen him go from - to use the American sporting vernacular - hero to zero. Having been lauded for his response to a young female Collingwood supporter calling…