Useful Data Science
How do we know that something is useful? The simple, but not very illuminating answer is that when something is useful, it has utility. Some philosophers interpret utility as the ability to provide the greatest good for the highest number of people. This definition is quite compelling, but it requires contextualization. What is right in one situation might not be so beneficial in another.
The concept of the highest number of people is also open to interpretation. Is something only useful when it benefits all of humanity, or can it also be useful when it helps just one person? The requirement to include the highest number of people in our definition of usefulness might work well for government organizations. It is also not so clear in corporations that seek to maximize the benefits to their shareholders.
Whether something is useful or useless depends on the context in which it is applied, but also on the set of values by which it is judged. Defining usefulness in generic...
