David Simon Says 'The Wire' Would Never Survive Today

Almost everything we do creates a digital trail containing information about who we are, where we go, how we spend our time and money, and what we watch. Media and entertainment entities are increasingly able to use this information to tell rich, data-driven stories or to decide what content to acquire or produce. But does betting on the "wisdom of crowds" bode well or ill for future innovation in film, art, and journalism? True believers and tech skeptics square off. 

In the era of big data, it's not about quality, it's about pure numbers. Simon joined "House of Cards" writer Beau Willimon and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday to discuss (and lament) how statistics are changing entertainment.

Almost everything we do creates a digital trail containing information about who we are, where we go, how we spend our time and money, and what we watch. Media and entertainment entities are increasingly able to use this information to tell rich, data-driven stories or to decide what content to acquire or produce. But does betting on the "wisdom of crowds" bode well or ill for future innovation in film, art, and journalism? True believers and tech skeptics square off.