We've learned our lesson with finance because they made a huge goddamn explosion that almost shut down the world. But the thing I realized is that there might never be an explosion on the scale of the financial crisis happening with big data.

There might never be that moment when everyone says, "Oh my God, big data is awful."

There's less of a connection for a lot of people between the technical decisions we make and the ethical ramifications we are responsible for.

The public trusts big data way too much.

We can't just throw something out there and assume it works just because it has math in it.

There are lots of different ways that algorithms can go wrong, and what we have now is a system in which we assume because it's shiny new technology with a mathematical aura that it's perfect and it doesn't require further vetting. Of course, we never have that assumption with other kinds of technology.

My fantasy is that there is a new regulatory body that is in charge of algorithmic auditing.