What is data processing
Prioritization and classification of data has been around for as long as humans have been in existence.
Every human observes, and just like computer programs that I like to assume we are(lol), we have a response for every input depending on the factors or circumstances associated with the said input.
However, in order for us to arrive at the response we output, under the hood a number of not always obvious things must and will have happened(like I said, programs). Choices might be weighed against each other, blockers and hindrances might be considered, decisions might be made, basically, anything can happen.
From the moment that any individual or entity receives an input which could be in any form up until the moment a response is outputted, the entire process can be likened to the processing of data.
A philosophical definition of data as supplied by a simple Google search of the term data definition says data can be defined as things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation.
By examining the definition we just gave we should be able to gauge the importance of data in the world from time till now.
The relationship between data and knowledge
If we go back to the explanations that serves as the introduction to this text we can also deduce that data is the primary and probably the only source of information that turns to knowledge.
Everything we know today as humans is only made possible because in the past the data had been carefully gathered, analyzed and refined to become useful information that can be digested to knowledge.
Why is it called the age of data processing?
At this point, if we consider the evolution of the genus Homo(sorry, humans) we can conclude that in a way the early humans suffered from a knowledge deficiency considering how far humans have come since that age.
That can also help us arrive at another conclusion that people from the time past would have been much more inclined to gather a lot of raw data for examination given the pressing need for and lack of it at the time.
These conditions serve as the primary reason why scholars refer to the time and age before computing and the first generation of computers as the data processing age.
Knowledge processing age
Now it is widely accepted that we are in the information age. Why is our time regarded as the information or otherwise knowledge processing age?
Here's what I feel would be a logical explanation, overtime in history a lot of data has been gathered and processed into useful knowledge and applications.
Nowadays, a lot of things and virtually everything around goes on record. And these data are not just recorded alone, a lot of it is put to use to help optimize identical instances or functions involving that data or dataset in the future.
We have now come to a time where knowledge has become so commonplace that the application of knowledge is the obvious and next frontier.
The gathering of data in the past has given birth to evergreen fields in science such as mathematics, physics, astrology, medicine and so on.
The application of the knowledge in these fields have gone on to create newer and advanced fields such as computer science, space technology, medical technology and artificial intelligence just to name a few.
A lot of the fields that fall into the category of the latter tend to focus on using existing knowledge and know how to automate and optimize processes and functions.
A good example of knowledge processing would be a face/voice detection system that can recognize anyone through their face or voice.
In order for a system like that to be fully functional there has to be first a comprehensive database of data of the people or population the system is to detect.
It is only by having prior knowledge of the subject of examination can the system recognize such a subject upon notice. Just as any human would only recognize someone only if they have seen them before.
Data processing or knowledge processing
In my opinion, both concepts are highly interwoven for without one the other could hardly exist.
Data will always remain a recipe for knowledge, that means at the end of the day we will always be in the age of data processing.
The only thing that I consider to be new in that respect is that in this new age the meaning of data has taken on much more diverse interpretation. What would normally be considered as knowledge in the olden days can and probably will now be used as data to further the advancements of man.