I'd be tempted to say something similar: data is harder because it sticks, in the sense that it ties us back to the physical world because it's always tied to a

I'd be tempted to say something similar: data is harder because it sticks, in the sense that it ties us back to the physical world because it's always tied to a place somewhere, it has to be moved, copied, synchronised, etc. However when I look at the accidental complexity we have created on the processing side, I wonder if it does not surpass the essential complexity of dealing with data. In other words: maybe we have yet to create the proper concepts and tools to deal with data, all this time the industry created a tower of babel (and of overspent $$$) with our languages, frameworks, containers, etc.