Practical Applications of Data Mining

Foreword

To begin this foreword, I offer two anonymous quotations. The first is: “If

there is artificial intelligence, there must also be artificial stupidity.” The

second is: “We need artificial intelligence because of a scarcity of the natural

kind.” The intent of the first is to remind us that, simply because we can

do something, that does not mean we should. The second is not really an

indictment of mankind, but of the alarmingly accelerated rate of the increase

in human knowledge, which has outpaced our capacity to absorb it, much

less put it to good use without substantial help.

We have watched the first decade of the 21st century come ...