{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T03:32:55Z","timestamp":1778124775425,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,2]],"date-time":"2016-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1472774400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>We address some of the epistemological challenges highlighted by the Critical Data Studies literature by reference to some of the key debates in the philosophy of science concerning computational modeling and simulation. We provide a brief overview of these debates focusing particularly on what Paul Humphreys calls epistemic opacity. We argue that debates in Critical Data Studies and philosophy of science have neglected the problem of error management and error detection. This is an especially important feature of the epistemology of Big Data. In \u201cError\u201d section we explain the main characteristics of error detection and correction along with the relationship between error and path complexity in software. In this section we provide an overview of conventional statistical methods for error detection and review their limitations when faced with the high degree of conditionality inherent to modern software systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951716664747","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,2]],"date-time":"2016-09-02T21:43:25Z","timestamp":1472852605000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":51,"title":["Can we trust Big Data? Applying philosophy of science to software"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"John","family":"Symons","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Philosophy, Lawrence, KS, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ram\u00f3n","family":"Alvarado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Philosophy, Lawrence, KS, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276411417430"},{"key":"bibr2-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amoore L (2014) Security and the incalculable.\n                      Security Dialogue\n                      0967010614539719.","DOI":"10.1177\/0967010614539719"},{"key":"bibr3-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Anderson C (2008) The end of theory: The data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete. Available at: http:\/\/www.wired.com\/science\/discoveries\/magazine\/16-07\/pb_theory (accessed 24 January 2016)."},{"key":"bibr4-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Arbesman S (2013, August) Five myths about Big Data.\n                      The Washington Post.\n                      Available at: www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/five-myths-about-big-data\/2013\/08\/15\/64a0dd0a-e044-11e2-963a-72d740e88c12_story.html (accessed 24 January 2016)."},{"key":"bibr5-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-008-9430-7"},{"key":"bibr6-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-014-0482-6"},{"key":"bibr7-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nature14956"},{"issue":"11","key":"bibr8-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1111\/0029-4624.31.s11.17","volume":"31","author":"Bedau MA","year":"1997","journal-title":"No\u00fbs"},{"key":"bibr9-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Berry DM (2011) The philosophy of software. In:\n                      Code and Mediation in the Digital Age.\n                      London: Pal-grave.","DOI":"10.1057\/9780230306479"},{"key":"bibr10-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Bollier D, Firestone CM (2010) The Promise and Peril of Big Data, Washington, DC: Aspen Institute, Communications and Society Program, pp. 56."},{"key":"bibr11-2053951716664747","volume-title":"Negotiating Our Future: Living Scenarios for Australia to 2050","author":"Boschetti F","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr12-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2012.678878"},{"key":"bibr13-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/icc\/10.1.179"},{"key":"bibr14-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Bryant R, Katz RH and Lazowska ED Big-data computing: Creating revolutionary breakthroughs in commerce, science and society, December 2008, pp. 1\u201315. Available at: http:\/\/www.cra.org\/ccc\/docs\/init\/Big_Data.pdf."},{"key":"bibr15-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/287954"},{"key":"bibr16-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11036-013-0489-0"},{"key":"bibr17-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1140\/epjds8"},{"key":"bibr18-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0023610"},{"key":"bibr19-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Cox M and Ellsworth D (1997) Application-controlled demand paging for out-of-core visualization. In:\n                      Proceedings of the 8th conference on visualization'97,\n                      Phoenix, AZ, USA, 18\u201324 October 1997, Los Alamitos, CA, IEEE Computer Society Press."},{"key":"bibr20-2053951716664747","first-page":"28","volume":"92","author":"Cukier K","year":"2013","journal-title":"Foreign Affairs"},{"key":"bibr123-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Ferziger JH and Peric M (2012)\n                      Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics\n                      . Springer Science & Business Media."},{"key":"bibr21-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1030.0145"},{"key":"bibr22-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s13347-012-0093-4"},{"key":"bibr203-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Floridi L, Fresco N and Primiero G (2015) On malfunctioning software.\n                      Synthese\n                      192(4): 1199\u20131220.","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-014-0610-3"},{"key":"bibr23-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.23212"},{"key":"bibr24-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Frigg R and Hartmann S (2012, Fall) Models in science. In: Zalta EN (ed)\n                      The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/archives\/fall2012\/entries\/models-science (accessed 24 January 2016)."},{"key":"bibr25-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-008-9438-z"},{"key":"bibr26-2053951716664747","first-page":"9","volume":"1142","author":"Gantz J","year":"2011","journal-title":"IDC iview"},{"key":"bibr27-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1005962107"},{"key":"bibr28-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2015.40"},{"key":"bibr29-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s13347-014-0172-9"},{"key":"bibr30-2053951716664747","first-page":"16","volume":"12","author":"Hilliard R","year":"2000","journal-title":"IEEE"},{"key":"bibr31-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-008-9435-2"},{"key":"bibr32-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1536616.1536632"},{"key":"bibr33-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Keller EF (2003)\n                      Models, simulation, and \u201ccomputer experiments\u201d\n                      . 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Available at: http:\/\/norvig.com\/fact-check.html (accessed 22 January 2016)."},{"key":"bibr45-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1115\/1.1767847"},{"key":"bibr46-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1003256"},{"key":"bibr47-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Paparrizos J, White RW and Horvitz E (2016) Screening for pancreatic adenocarcinoma using signals from web search logs: Feasibility study and results.\n                      Journal of Oncology Practice\n                      , p.JOPR010504.","DOI":"10.1200\/JOP.2015.010504"},{"key":"bibr48-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-007-9296-0"},{"key":"bibr49-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Rapaport WJ (2015) Philosophy of computer science. Available at: http:\/\/www.cse.buffalo.edu\/\u223crapaport\/Papers\/phics.pdf."},{"key":"bibr50-2053951716664747","unstructured":"Salzberg S (2014) Why Google flu is a failure.\n                      Forbes. com [online]\n                      . pp. 03\u201324. 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MIT press.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/1763.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr57-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199933662.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr58-2053951716664747","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226902050.001.0001"}],"container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951716664747","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/2053951716664747","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951716664747","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T13:02:09Z","timestamp":1777381329000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2053951716664747"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,2]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/2053951716664747"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/2053951716664747","relation":{},"ISSN":["2053-9517","2053-9517"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2053-9517","type":"print"},{"value":"2053-9517","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,2]]},"article-number":"2053951716664747"}}