The world we live in today is surrounded by databases. With this acquired technology we must understand how databases work and how we can use them to visualize the data surrounding us. As coorporations and employers have migrated towards the database world, to understand the flowchart found within databases has become more paramount than ever before.
Even though Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character designed to know it all, the writers must've had explicit knowledge pertaining to information systems. Holmes in this scene is completely right, without context or information surrounding characters within a database, we cannot draw conclusions as to what the data truly means.
The title above states the foundational flow found within database systems.
This flowchart is designed to take the simplest of characters, give them labels, place the labelled characters within a scenario with goals, then use ideas - consistent with the human experience - to selectively achieve goals with said labelled characters.
Many companies and employers utilize these databases and their flowcharts to not only find and store information about prices, employees, and much more within their systems, but to also make predictions about the future based off of previously collected data.
For example, a flowchart could look like:
Data:
Mustard: Is a condiment.
Information:
Mustard: Is often found on sandwiches.
Knowledge:
Mustard: Often is best paired with ketchup.
Wisdom:
Mustard: Preset all of our sandwiches that come with mustard already, to now come equipped with ketchup to increase sales.
Databases can do multitudes of things.
Databases can sort and filter products within popular online shopping websites such as Amazon or Walmart.
Databases can also sort and filter movies within your favorite streaming services such as HBOMax, Netflix, or even Paramount Plus.
Databases often can sort through immense values of data and information and sites like IMBd or Rotten Tomatoes are databases that can sort and filter through thousands of actors and the movies they're in.
Databases can also format websites such as Amazon or any online retailer by setting the price next to the product or even predicting which products you'd be most likely to purchase based off of data - or cookies - within the website.
Databases also can have different utility depending on which side you are on within the structure - for example:
Databases can show you a specific purchasing style format if you are shopping within their online retailer; however, databases can also be used for the corporate side of things as well.
Databases on the corporate side can show you a historical outlook on your profits, savings, wages, earnings, and even time spent on manufacturing.
Most - if not all - corporations and businesses use these databases to not just see their numerical values within the company, but can also predict future earnings, savings, wages, time spent, and even profits.
Businesses can use these database predictions to alter their route and change the operation day-to-day to ensure the company can stay afloat. You see this phenomenon typically within statements such as "quarterly earnings".
Lastly, databases can help employees with certain features within employment such as "time off" or "paid time off". These features are set within databases to keep track of time, numerical values of said time, how much time you have left, and when you used the days, you have taken off. Many time; these systems are found within the company's network.
"Mr. Database, what is the SUM of B2:B6?"
"Well, that'll be X amount sir."
Just like in Rain Man, databases have a great skill in having logical awareness when it comes to formulas.
Some databases - such as multidimensional databases - have a particularly easy time working with large datasets and can even predict these numbers without you asking the system to do so.
Just like in Rain Man, we can use these data systems to our advantage by predicting quaterly earnings, profit margins, and even how much we would spend on employment wether it be 3 months, 6 months, or even up to 5 years.
This is just one example of the political fight between the common man and the ruling class when it pertains to the construction of data centers.
The Common Man:
Data Centers reduce resources such as water.
Data centers pollute the air and water.
The data centers are simply loud.
Reduces the quality of life within the area of construction regarding traffic, sound, pollution, and animal populations as data centers are large.
The Business Class:
We need data more than ever before with all companies being ran off of databases.
Data is forseen by the government to win future wars.
Data is the new gold (makes money).
If we don't invest, others will.
It is simply inevitable.
While many billionaires such as Kevin O' Leary and others aim to build giant data centers across The United States, the civilian population is currently fighting back. There is obviously a conflict of interest between the civilian population and the corporate class within America. Within The United States, businesses make money off of data mining, the selling of data, and can predict shifts in the market based off of data. While corporations plan to use these infographic figures to enhance profit margins, the consumer class has no real interest in the game at all. Therefore, many civilians don't want massive, loud, resource eating data warehouses within their backyards disrupting their day-to-day life to line the pockets of the business class.
The unfortunate reality is we need data...
The entire medical field, all of our employers, where we shop, where we watch movies, and even our browsers utilize databases to enhance the systems that're present.
When we visit Netflix or HBOMax, the database is helping decide what movies would be best for us to watch based on previous experience within the site.
When we shop online, the retailer is utilizing a database to ensure which products will fit your everyday needs based on previous purchases.
Lastly, when you have had too many drinks within a bar and have no ride home, apps like Uber will use their database to ensure you manage a safe ride home.
Therefore - even if we don't realize the true importance - data is paramount to our societal structure and the well-oiled system of applications we use daily.
In conclusion, there must be a balancing act, and while this is still an ongoing debate amongst our population and its politicians, there will be a time where the rubber meets the road. Will we choose infinite streams of data, data warehouses, the destruction of our water systems? Will there be a new method of storing data that is far less harmful than the systems we currently utilize? Will we forbid the building of data centers and retain conservatism when it pertains to technology? While the answer remains unpredictable, we can see that data is a powerful tool and a commodity that is heavily desired the ruling class.
Movies like "Moneyball" explicitly have shown how data analytics are dominating sports.
In sports such as American Football - which is ultimately a business - data has become important in winning games, decision making, signing new players, or even letting old players hit the free market.
Databases help reinforce decisions made by the top brass within these organizations; therefore, the businesses (teams) can maintain winning seasons, explosive players on the field, and even sell merchandise.
Even when it comes to on-field decision making databases have helped teams.
If it is a 4th and 2 in football, coaches in today's game will either make a gut decision or look towards the database to decide wether or not going for the 4th down is a fruitless endeavor or not.
Based off of previous team data within any team sport, coaches can have information at how likely they are to make a free throw shot within basketball, who gets on base the most within baseball, or how often a guy makes a tackle within the entire football game.
These analytics have forever changed the way coaches interact with sports, how players interact with sports, and lastly how we as fans react to decisions made within the games we watch.
Inherently, these two videos prove the change within the past two decades in sports in regards to data analysis. Baseball - while always being a game of numbers (ERA, Strike Count, Hitting %) - is now ran by mathmeticians and data analysis personnel designed to enhance the teams they work for. As you can see, in sports every piece of information gathered is a character - or number - that can be analyzed and used to make decisions in the future. In the world we live in today where all games are recorded, every action within the game is recorded, and the statistics are all tracked during and after the game for years to come, there is immense value within the data being presented. Teams now can use data to predict future events just like any business, and will continue to do so for years to come.
In conclusion data is everything in our society currently. Wether its a doctors office visit, watching a sports game, shopping online, deciding which movie to watch, or even generals at war with each other, data is vital information that will be used to dominate or influence others. While this may seem grim, data has helped personalize our lives. Data often knows us better than we know ourselves. If we got rid of data today, we'd need more payroll staff by our employers, our YouTube account would recommend videos we don't enjoy, retailers would offer products we don't often buy, and businesses would be faced with decisions that could either make or break their company regularly. While data helps us immensely, it also is a cause for trouble. Many times in our society, the population is often looked at as a number on a spreadsheet and data can miss the nuance in the human genome. With this new commodity in data acquisition, many aristocrat businessmen will happily sell your personal data to scammers, third parties, and other businessmen to line their own pockets. Therefore, as stated earlier, there must be a balance within our society when it comes to databases, data privacy, and data acquisition. While the consumer and corporate structure can agree that data enhances our current status of living, the two classes would often disagree on the privacy of data, how companies obtain the data, and how businesses make decisions based off of data as to nuance.
Databases run everything we use; however, they lack the wisdom of the human experience.