From cave paintings to analytics

From cave paintings to analytics

‘Exploration and production’ is a concept that is used for natural resources such as oil, and now for how we process and extract value from the ever-increasing streams of data in industry and in our daily lives. Data is often referred to as the new natural resource, so it is worth a brief look at the parallels in how the exploration and production of other “natural” resources have evolved. What might we expect from this “new resource”? Will it change how we do things and impact our lives?

Iron ore, gold, oil, water, coal – these are all natural resources that humans have been discovering, processing and distributing for millennia. But we have not always known how to best work with them, or how to make the most effective use of them in a sustainable way.

Take oil as an example. For the first 6000 years or so after humans started using oil, the asphalt/bitumen that seeped to the earth’s surface was primarily used as a glue or a sealant in building and ship construction. The interesting exception of course, was in China. Some 2000 years ago the Chinese discovered the use of gas as a fuel and managed to dig wells to 800ft (240m) and transport the oil in bamboo pipelines. This innovation was subsequently lost – clearly it was well ahead of its time.

Later, oil was used as medicine in various forms in many different cultures. Fast forward to the mid-1800s and we have the first “modern” oil wells in Baku (1840s) and in Pennsylvania (1859, Edwin Drake). The latter introduced the mass exploration and production of oil, thus sustaining and making economical use of oil-derived kerosene (paraffin), which had superior properties compared to its coal based predecessor.

The late 1800s saw the introduction of the internal combustion engine. The demand for ever more refined product soared. This story, focusing on oil, shows clearly how we steadily discover more about what we can do with a natural resource, while also learning how to find and recover it efficiently and innovate to find new advantages.

This is a story not so much about oil, as it is about data and information. Data and its exploitation has at least as long a history as oil, or other natural resources. Neanderthals, humans and animals have always used data to make decisions. You see, you feel, you hear, you smell, you taste and you make associations between them and what there is around you. You learn. You apply the learning to benefit you and your pack. The cycle goes on. 

Original storage capacity was low and somewhat dynamic in our developing brains. When you die, your memory is lost. Does this sound like anything you know? About 40,000 years ago we learned to draw and paint (capture data) by drawings on cave walls. Within the past 5200 years we had the great innovation of writing to capture data and thoughts. Image capturing (photography) came of age within the past 200 years. Increasingly, we have searched for and found ways to capture many more types of data and to find innovations to capture and store it. 

Today, we are at a point of having almost limitless data surrounding us. We have found ways to measure and record data in a way that was just not possible on a practical scale a few years ago. However, compared to the use we make of our natural resources, we are in our infancy as to how we make effective use of data. Similarly to how we used oil as a medicine, we have at times made inappropriate use of data, and have certainly not discovered its full potential.

In many ways, we can be thought of as having, until recently, doing little more than the ancients did 6000 years ago using oil product from seepages as a mortar to build houses or seal their boats. As per Edwin Drake’s “first” truly drilled well through rock and the establishing of the ability to systematically explore, discover and recover oil, we now have the know-how and technology to generate or discover and to recover data in systematic ways and in volume.

Share it:
Share it:

[Social9_Share class=”s9-widget-wrapper”]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You Might Be Interested In

How big data Is driving technological innovation

21 Jul, 2017

Big data analytics, or the collection and analysis of huge sums of data to discover underlying trends and patterns, is …

Read more

Why Apple Will Become A Leader In Artificial Intelligence

2 Apr, 2017

Apple has shown that it can “come from behind” in AI as it did in mobile processors through acquisitions and …

Read more

Why Data Science Isn’t an Exact Science

2 Aug, 2020

Organizations adopt data science with the goal of getting answers to more types of questions, but those answers are not …

Read more

Do You Want to Share Your Story?

Bring your insights on Data, Visualization, Innovation or Business Agility to our community. Let them learn from your experience.

Get the 3 STEPS

To Drive Analytics Adoption
And manage change

3-steps-to-drive-analytics-adoption

Get Access to Event Discounts

Switch your 7wData account from Subscriber to Event Discount Member by clicking the button below and get access to event discounts. Learn & Grow together with us in a more profitable way!

Get Access to Event Discounts

Create a 7wData account and get access to event discounts. Learn & Grow together with us in a more profitable way!

Don't miss Out!

Stay in touch and receive in depth articles, guides, news & commentary of all things data.