This post comes across as 1) overly dismissive of what's been done so far, and 2) extraordinarily breathless about the capabilities of "data science", whatever

This post comes across as 1) overly dismissive of what's been done so far, and 2) extraordinarily breathless about the capabilities of "data science", whatever the hell that is. You don't get your massive data sets without all the work done in the 90's. Also, the whole history of Science is a counter-factual to the idea that "all you need is data". More often than not, you get the data. And then you have the data. And then a long time later you finally get the (right) theory. And then a long time later you finally get the product. Unbridled optimism isn't a virtue. IMO, the sort of attitude you're expressing here (to be clear, not you, but the general attitude, which is very common) has a good shot at precipitating the next AI Winter. The promise of automating Scientific insight is a dangerous (and IMO stupid) promise to make.