This document discusses big data and its future. It notes that companies focus on revenue generation from data while data lakes remain underutilized. Academics are creating open source tools to empower individuals with data. Autonomous convergence of data is vital for economic advantage. Big data has value through accumulation, abstraction, autonomy and simulation. Its value comes from diversity, velocity and profiles of data. Continuous learning is important to understand big data's impact and value over time. Being prepared for the future of big data will involve staying ahead in this evolving field.