With today’s powerful computers, we can look at massive amounts of information and simulate complex situations, making pretty good predictions about many things: What will traffic flows look like on Tuesday at 5:00 in the afternoon if we put a detour at this highway intersection? What percentage of people on this drug will get better – and, more interestingly, which particular individuals will respond positively, and which ones are likely to be harmed?
信息技术的发展改变了所有这一切。今天的大型计算机可以查阅海量信息、模拟复杂状况并对诸多问题做出可靠预测：周二下午5点要求路口车辆绕行会对交通状况产生何种影响？服药患者有多大比例会出现好转——更有意思的是，哪些人会出现好转，而哪些人有可能恶化？