Evaluating the evolution of Big Data through the prism of Dr. David Thornburg’s principle of Rhymes of History (Laureate Education, 2014d) rendered some colorful perspectives for me. Following the tenets of the principle one must look to the past for affects and impacts that the emerging technology being evaluated is rekindling. We look not so much for the rekindling of the technology but for how the technology was used by people; its purpose.  The quest for ways and means to predict the future is a quest that reaches as far back as 1400 BC and encompasses many cultures. The technology we use today is markedly different, but the objective is notably paralleled.
Big Data predictive software players market tools like Oracle Data Miner, Statsoft Statistica, Rapid Miner and Mahout to read the virtual data tea leaves to predict outcomes for business, education, health and a wide range of end-users seeking paths to avoid or take towards success.
Before Christ and After Perhaps predictive software producer, Oracle, may have taken its name from the 8th century Oracle of Delphi. Kings and the wealthy from Africa, Asia Minor and Sicily flocked to Greece to seek the prophetic advice from the priestesses in the shrine.  King Saul sought advice from the dead using the divination services of the witch of Endor (I Samuel 28).  There have been many prophets issuing prophesies that enabled preparation for the implications such as the birth of Christ and even his death. Could Pharaoh have used the Census of Quirinius to find the new king that hailed his demise?
Sure about that, Mr. Twain? Whether the future can be predicted from the past is still up for debate. Along with whether it actually repeats itself or not as Mark Twain quipped. Pioneering innovators in the field of predictive analytic solutions such as Dr. Kira Radinsky, are using large-scale human history to predict our economic future among other significant human circumstances.
Prediction vs. Projection Nostradamus, though credited with accurately predicting dozens of historical world events, did not consider himself a prophet according to Peter Lemesurier, author of "Nostradamus, Bibliomancer: The Man, the Myth, the Truth" (Radford, 2012). It is evident that what Nostradamus  did believe was that history repeats itself, and he thus projected known past events into the future.		Tea anyone?  Big Data utilizes visual predictive analytics;    the rhyme  for which can be  found in the  practice of  Tasseography or  reading tea    leaves  which has  been practiced  by the  Chinese  for thousands  of  years.  This  diagram was included in an interview with  Ed  Schmidt of AT&T on  his 2011 mobile  development predictions. I hazard to guess  that it was placed in jest, but who knows?

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014h). David Thornburg: Rhymes of history [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Radford, B. (2012, October 23). Nostradamus: Predictions of Things Past. LivesScience.com.     Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/24213-nostradamus.html