my take is that we've harvested the easy pickings which were accessible as a result of formalized and professionalized scientific research and engineering proce

my take is that we've harvested the easy pickings which were accessible as a result of formalized and professionalized scientific research and engineering processes. now, we're entering the era of formalized and professionalized data-driven processes. the advances delivered by this latest technological movement aren't going to take us from gazing at birds to being able to construct a plane. they're going to take us from inefficiency to efficiency, and from ignorance about deep, broad, and complex phenomena to descriptive knowledge. if we're lucky, it'll take us to knowledge about causation in some areas too, but this technological revolution isn't about causes so much as about coping with effects. it's the subtle stuff that reshapes the world invisibly and in ways that are difficult to comprehend without a wide view. for instance, in science, data-driven research via genome-wide association studies (GWAS) etc can lead to more efficient allocation of diagnostic resources in healthcare, meaning that people with certain characteristics can on average be healthier as a result.