More than Data Science: FuturICT 2.0

Abstract

In an Asimov novel he imagines that ‘machines’ can receive input from all the ‘facts’ that happen in the world, day after day, year after year. Machines are robots in the Asimovian sense, and therefore they cannot let their action (or inaction) harm human beings in any way, furthermore they must obey humans and only ultimately protect themselves. And so day after day, year after year, they suggest lines of action, modify procedures, ask for the creation of structures and modify others. In order to promote the welfare of the human race. Without revealing how the story ends (it ends in a very fascinating way anyway), FuturICT 2.0, a 2019 EU initiative proposes exactly this, namely the creation of decision-making aid tools, which receive data from the world and propose explanations for dynamics, lines of action, solutions. In this Chap. 1 describe what FuturICT is now, and how this dream hides within it a challenge that is difficult to fully grasp.