“The data doesn’t lie.”
I imagine that’s what the cigarette companies said.
“The data doesn’t lie. People want this stuff. They’re buying it in droves. We’re merely giving them what they want.”
Which sounds more like an attempt at exoneration than a reason to exist.
Demand can be engineered. “We’re giving them what they want” ignores how desire is shaped, even engineered (algorithms, dark patterns, growth hacking, etc.).
Appealing to data as the ultimate authority — especially when fueled by engineered desire — isn’t neutrality, it’s an abdication of responsibility.
Satiating human desire is not the highest aspiration.
We can do so much more than merely supply what the data says is in demand.
Stated as a principle:
Values over data.
Data tells you what people consume, not what you should make. Values, ethics, vision, those can help you with the “should”.
“What is happening?” and “What should happen?” are two completely different questions and should be dealt with as such.
The more powerful our ability to understand demand, the more important our responsibility to decide whether to respond to it. We can choose not to build something, even though the data suggests we should. We can say no to the data.
Data can tell you what people clicked on, even help you predict what people will click on, but you get to decide what you will profit from.