ABSTRACT
Y. N. Harari explores ‘dataism’ or ‘datafication’, a viewpoint that suggests data-flows are the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Dataists argue that datafication is the natural development of humankind – but will eventually supersede it. The mathematician Phillip Rogaway has suggested that, because of ‘datafication’, academics stand on the brink of something that looks remarkably like a second atomic era, and that the place of scientists and scholars within it requires careful reconsideration. Datafication not only blurs the boundaries between intelligence and information, it also blurs the boundaries between surveillance, scholarship and science. Universities will therefore have a critical role to play at the interface of artificial intelligence and the security agencies. The chapter seeks to suggest that the fundamental role of academics in intelligence is rather different to the world of 1942. Universities have traditionally been bastions of liberal and humane values.
