The latest Wired magazine has a cover story called the End of Science. The story starts with these words.The quest for knowledge used to begin with grand theories. Now it begins with massive amounts of data. Welcome to the Petabyte Age.
The idea is that because of the we are living in an age where the ability to process information grows exponentially every second (tera-second), the models of science are no longer relevant.
Speaking at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference this past March, Peter Norvig, Google's research director, offered an update to George Box's maxim: "All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them."
It's a fascinating read. But I've been wondering the same thing about the church. What affect does living in the Petabyte Age have on the church. How does it affect the way that society views God, themselves and each other? And in what way does it affect the church? And can the same obituary be given to church models? Will this age turn our view of the church on it's head?
This would be a conference I would love to attend. Let's call it GOOGLED: the affect of the Petabyte Age on the church. Hmmm.
