Big Data is in the air.  O'Reilly's Strata conference this week was a good focal point, with executives everywhere perking up to the potential gold they might uncover.

Big Data has big upsides and downsides. The positives range from early warning of epidemics to highly accurate translation and spell-checking. One of the major downsides is that the temptation to stalk customers is addictive like crack.

With David Weinberger, Doc Searls and Rick Smolan, let's discuss:

• What's new about big databases? What (and who) are the new superpowers?
• How is Big Data changing industries? analysis? people's lives? privacy?
• Where is this trend headed?