So I decided to pursue a certificate in science, technology, and society (STS) as well as my PhD, because I simply did not have enough to do apparently. The group of STS students decided to invest in a bunch of books, and this happened to be the one that I picked up as it looked most relevant to my interests in how we perceive science and what we do with it. It was definitely an academic read, but pretty cool to go through.
The immaculate conception of data is the idea that tech bros and the like subscribe to, it is immaculate because it believes that data comes straight from the universe without human intervention, and that the data will only improve people’s lives and productivity. There is a lot in the book about environmental benefits as well, but those are seen as a side result and as such do not play into the immaculate conception of data concretely.
This framework is built on through the use of big data in agriculture. Bronson has interviewed farmers, engineers, and others that collect this data and market it to farmers for their use in growing crops. Quite a lot of the book consists of quotes from these interviews, as well as Bronson putting her ideas into the context of STS thinkers. (It is really cool to see writers I read about in class cited in an actual book.) She talks about the promises as well as the pitfalls of this technology. This includes how farmers become more efficient, but also there can be issues with programming the smart tractors and things like that.
It is an interesting look into the idea of “big data” and
how it gets used in an industry that we do not typically associate with “big
data.” I can say that I knew agriculture was big and competitive, but I didn’t
realize how much data was being collected and marketed to farmers in need of a
leg up on the competition. It is pretty academic so it would not make for great
light reading, but was still cool to read about!
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