Data Science in the System of Contemporary Scientific Knowledge. Review of the Book “Data Science Thinking: The Next Scientific, Technological and Economic Revolution” by Longbing Cao

Abstract

This paper reviews the book “Data Science Thinking: The Next Scientific, Technological and Economic Revolution” by Longbing Cao (ORCID: 0000-0003-1562-9429). He is a prominent Australian researcher specializing in informatics and wide range of current topical studies in machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc. Despite the large volume of the book, the author densely represent the formation of data science as a new discipline. This subject area demonstrates a number of unique features as compared to “traditional” sciences, i.e. a closer link between theory and practice, merging approaches from the humanities / social sciences and exact / natural sciences, as well as the possibility to study previously unknown and inaccessible phenomena. The book can generate interest among researchers of the history of science, as well as experts who work with data.