The Worst Idea Ever (Editorial)

An Internet entrepreneur is planning to take the insights offered by big data and the oversharing promoted by Facebook to its logical — and horrifying — conclusion: a “Yelp for people,” as it’s been called.

Yes, the app Peeple will allow you to rate, by stars, everyone you know, as the Washington Post put it: “your exes, your co-workers, the old guy who lives next door.” And, of course, everyone you know — your exes, your co-workers, the old guy who lives next door — can rate you.

It’s the ultimate 360 review.

The co-founder of Peeple, Julia Cordray, told the BBC: “With any new concept there is naturally fear.

“When the people found out that the Earth was round instead of flat and that we revolved around the Sun instead of the Sun revolving around us, naturally people were upset and confused and they pushed back with all that they had.”

Forget for a moment that she’s comparing Peeple with the achievement of Nicolaus Copernicus and ponder the consequences of making individual likability metrics available for the entire world to see.

Arkansas can fairly be considered one of the incubators of the notion that big data can bring big benefits: Charles Morgan’s development of Acxiom is witness to that. And the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, with its Emerging Analytics Center, is charging ahead in seeking to translate big data into better ways for Arkansas companies to do business.

In other words: We’ve got no problem with data and its measurement. Data is business oxygen.

But we’re old-fashioned in this regard: Some things can’t be measured. They happen to be the best things — faith, hope and love. Courage. Perseverance. Joy. And rating people when what’s best about them can’t be measured is a lie. Unfortunately, it’s a lie that Peeple proposes to share with the world.