Bravo! You confirm what I have observed. Data without context is worthless. This is what I learned from studying chemistry — a science that relies on data, statistics, and observation. The young data scientists I have talked to have a great handle on the technical aspects of crunching numbers. However, there is more than an understanding of the numbers needed to solve a complex problem. You must understand if the problem is machine-machine, man-machine, or man-man. Or machine-nature, man-nature. Machine-machine problems are the easiest to solve using data. Man-man problems (behavior-driven) are the most difficult to solve using data. You must understand what data to pay attention to and what data you should exclude. And machine learning requires you to show the machine what data it should pay attention to. I would not give up on my love of numbers and solving complex problems. But I would recommend that you give up on trying to understand complex systems using only the data you are given.