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Databases Quotes

Lines on what databases reveal and what they miss.

These quotes question how much a database can really explain about people, arguing real learning happens in minds, not in the records of multiple-choice tests. Big data's promoters get a skeptical look here too.

You go to a theater, you're in a darkened room, and you watch someone that you don't really know how many children they have or what their father's nickname might be; you don't have references and databases and rumors and...

Quotes by Adrien Brody

That is really not much different from the search engines that are being constructed today for users throughout the entire world to allow them to search through databases to access the information that they require.

Quotes by Stephen Cambone

The popular dystopian vision of AI is wrong for one simple reason: it equates intelligence with autonomy. That is, it assumes a smart computer will create its own goals and have its own will and will use its faster processing...

Quotes by Oren Etzioni

Because there are now online databases of federally funded research, and these databases are searchable by keyword, sex researchers have to be careful how they title their projects. It's become a simple matter, for those who are so inclined, to...

Quotes by Mary Roach

Assumes Quotes

Learning happens in the minds and souls, not in the databases of multiple-choice tests.

Quotes by Ken Robinson

The promoters of big data would like us to believe that behind the lines of code and vast databases lie objective and universal insights into patterns of human behavior, be it consumer spending, criminal or terrorist acts, healthy habits, or...

Quotes by Kate Crawford

We get information in the mail, the regular postal mail, encrypted or not, vet it like a regular news organization, format it - which is sometimes something that's quite hard to do, when you're talking about giant databases of information...

Quotes by Julian Assange

The fact is that proprietary databases don't work for such basic and broadly needed information as the sequence of the human genome.

Quotes by John Sulston

The 'Total Information Awareness' project is truly diabolical - mostly because of the legal changes which have made it possible in the first place. As a consequence of the Patriot Act, government now has access to all sorts of private...

Quotes by John Perry Barlow

Basic Quotes

U.S. computer networks and databases are under daily cyber attack by nation states, international crime organizations, subnational groups, and individual hackers.

Quotes by John O. Brennan

I thought a company that provides mutual-fund information could be a great business, because you could construct an effective moat by building large financial databases and customer lists and a strong brand name.

Quotes by Joe Mansueto

Second, we're spending a huge amount of money on technology so that everyone can check out laptops and portable phones. We're spending more money to write our existing information into databases or onto CD-ROM.

Quotes by Jay Chiat

Curating our data is valuable. Like 23andMe - while selling us the chance to know whether we're Vikings or whatever, they're amassing these huge DNA databases that are unimaginably valuable. Get people to pay you to add their DNA to...

Quotes by Hannah Fry

The reason why there is more pessimism about technology in Europe has to do with history, the use of databases to keep track of people in the camps, ecological disasters.

Quotes by Evgeny Morozov

Behavior Quotes

Vast databases of names and personal information, sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies, have put almost anyone within reach of fraudulent telemarketers.

Quotes by Charles Duhigg

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these databases quotes generally argue?
Most raise doubts about how much a database can truly capture, contrasting real learning and human behavior with what gets recorded in records and tests.
Is there a quote about big data specifically?
Yes, one line questions the idea that big data alone offers objective, universal insight into things like consumer spending or behavior patterns.
Does any quote mention the human genome?
One does, arguing that proprietary databases fail to serve a basic public need like open access to the human genome sequence.
Is journalism connected to databases anywhere in this set?
One quote describes vetting information the way a news organization would, treating careful formatting and verification as part of working with data responsibly.
What's the overall tone of these quotes toward technology?
It leans skeptical, questioning whether databases substitute for genuine understanding rather than simply supporting it, as seen on the related Behavior page.

One line points to proprietary databases failing basic public needs, like sharing the human genome sequence openly. See more on Behavior and how data shapes what we assume about people.