Discourses, Big Data, and Cyber Space

Discourses, Big Data,  and Cyber Space

Janpha Thadphoothon

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One expert in economics asks one sensible question: What are we going to do with the amount of data that we have accumulated? I would lime to start my essay with this question. His argument is that as long as human nature (greed, passion, desires, sensual gratification, etc.) remains the same. The data will eventually be classified into what we can count in our fingers. Why's that?

What matters in our life may only be a handful of things. Water and Air (fresh air) and food. The Buddha once said that there are plenty of leaves in the forest, but what are essential for us are those leaves in his hand. In research and statistics, we know that data seem to form certain patterns when reaching 30. All of these seem to suggest the law of nature, that is, the minimalist nature of things.

In the age of data plenty, the blue line between what is real, factual, and what is created and manipulated, what we best should we be dealing with the input? I would like to turn to poets and mystics, as antidotes to mechanistic worldview. One of the poems is about friendship. Let's look at this:

“Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person

— having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,

but pouring them all right out, just as they are,

chaff and grain together;

certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,

keep what is worth keeping,

         and then with the breath of kindness 

          blow the rest away.”

The poem was written by a poet by the name of Dinah Maria Mulock Craik.in one of her books called A Life for a Life (1859),  The last line is what matters in how we should live our lives in this disruptive age.

keep what is worth keeping,

         and then with the breath of kindness 

          blow the rest away.”

Like the Buddha or Jesus, we should keep and know what is worth knowing and keeping. How can we do this? We need to develop our ability to categorize them. What is relevant or less relevant.

The Buddha told us that what matters in life is only handful, the five precepts. for example.

Jesus told us that it's the love of God, reduced to the ten commandments, for example.

A Japanese poet by the name of Basho has something to share and teach the world. He invented  haiku. Haiku poems are perhaps the shortest version, based on the idea that less is more. Below is his most recognizable haiku:

古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音
furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto

   an ancient pond /
 a frog jumps in /
the splash of water
[1686]

The beauty of nature and reflection is such that it's simple. Simplicity purified mind.

Wise men have these words for us: Behind it all are actually simple explanations."