∎ Data Science and Prediction - Dhar - 2013 - Reading Session 202301271312
In situations where we are able to design randomized trials, big data makes it feasible to uncover the causal models generating the data.
The author doesn’t make this point very big but it is actually quite important. There are many cases in which it is unethical to undertake a conventional scientific study of certain phenomena… Even though we know that those phenomena are happening anyway. If the data is collected “naturally,” however, we may be able to trace and track patterns in these data without putting ourselves in precarious ethical situations