The global data revolution continues to grow at warp speed — and history books tell us that as soon as a new commodity becomes highly valued, corruption, greed and exploitation will surface. Guaranteed.

Data — as intangible as it might seem — has fast become the world’s most valuable commodity. Tangible commodities like “black gold” (oil) — think here of oil giants like Exxon Mobil, BP and Chevron — will be in decline given the environmentally justified push against fossil fuels.

Stocks in computer hardware (think Apple, Lenovo, Dell, etc) and software (think Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe) have grown immeasurably over the last few decades, but as we approach saturation in some markets, growth is slowing.

That’s not an issue when we look at the current and projected growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), that rash of connected devices and technologies that’s set to be a major driver of what Klaus Schwab — the founder of the World Economic Forum — describes as the “fourth industrial revolution.”

And for the data that’s stored on, and shared between, IoT devices and their respective software — some of it likely being your data — there’s no plateau in sight.

It’s all about the data

Below are some stand-out numbers that relate to “connected,” IoT devices that TechJury has collated from Statista:

• 44 billion — the number of IoT devices expected to be installed by 2025 worldwide.
• 22 — the current average number of connected IoT devices per U.S. household.
• $1.6 trillion — projected end-user spending on IoT devices.
• 4 zettabytes (= 79.4,000,000,000,000 gigabytes) — the estimated amount of data that will be consumed by connected IoT devices in 2025.

The fact is, the global data revolution is well and truly here and continues to grow at warp speed. History books tell us over and again that as soon as a new commodity becomes highly valued, corruption, greed and exploitation will surface. Guaranteed.

It happened in North America in the late 19th century with the “gold rush” — and it’s happening today in Africa with the same, still highly valued commodity, as well as with other minerals (notably lithium, manganese, nickel and cobalt) for electric vehicles.

While you might still be reeling from the sheer scale of the numbers relating to data that are now, or soon will be, shared across the internet, it is health data — and medical data — that will soon become the most precious of all commodities.

The reason is simple for the architects of the fourth industrial revolution: the more you know about people, the more you’re able to control them.

As alien as this objective might be to some of us who value human autonomy and independence, for those who have assumed leadership over the human race through tyranny or election (whether fair or rigged), control over others appears to be the most coveted aspiration.

It seems that some who have satiated their appetite for wealth, must then move on to pursue power over others.

Before bolstering my view that it’s now of paramount importance that we all appreciate the extent to which governments, tech companies and other corporations are likely to go to get their hands on our personal data, particularly that linked to our health, I need to take you on a short journey on the global status of authoritarianism, human population dynamics, and alleged justifications for public manipulation and control.

The reasons will become apparent.