In The Human Face of Big Data, Rick Smolan shares a story about researchers who are using special data-crunching eyeglasses to bring sight to the blind. Embedded cameras that act like photoreceptors send visual signals to the brain, bypassing the damaged retina in patients with macular degeneration.
The same sensory information that can restore lost senses can also augment the ones we already possess. In his Spark interview, Rick talks about the challenge of explaining the impact of Big Data to one of his toughest critics—his ten year-old son.
Imagine if you’ve been looking through one eye your entire life, and for the first time doctors or scientists gave you the ability to open up another eye. You’re not just getting more vision—you’re getting a different dimension.
What does Big Data mean to you?