The Power of a Gut Feeling

Data isn't everything

Data tells you a lot about the way things are, but it doesn’t tell you anything about how things could be.

The phrase ‘data-driven’ is so overused in modern business corporatespeak that it’s gone far beyond being cliche.

At least cliches can be somewhat meaningful when you get past the initial cringe/ick reaction.

‘Data-driven’ is just banal. Completely meaningless. Truly nothing but hot air coming out of the mouths of people who themselves are nothing more than empty shells whose abstract thinking ability is maxed out at 0%.

People who are perpetually afraid/incapable of making decisions are obsessed with data. It absolves them of the feeling of responsibility that they hate so much, and takes away the shame that comes from making the wrong decision.

“I didn’t know [insert negative outcome here] would happen. The data said it was the right thing to do” is the tech weenie version of “my dog ate the homework”.

When you rely on data for everything, you remove yourself from the equation.

That applies to more than just basic CYA’ing.

On a deeper level: In a world where Data is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; why do you even exist?

What’s the value-add of any individual human or even humans-in-general if the only thing that matters are raw numbers and the ability to process them?

The answer is that your value lies in the intangibles. The things that numbers can’t illustrate and that AI can’t automate.

Many of the greats in (in all fields) talk about how they rely on their gut for making decisions: