Statistics is common sense and simple solutions often work. The big data phenomena will drive us farther and farther from being simple. Here is a poem that I believe tells what may happen in the next fifty years in statistics. Let’s see.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

–J. R. R. Tolkien