On the role of statistics in the era of big data: A call for a debate

While discussing the plenary talk of Dunson (2016) at the 48th Scientific Meeting of the Italian Statistical Society, I formulated a few general questions on the role of statistics in the era of big data which stimulated an interesting debate. They are reported here with the aim of engaging a larger audience on an issue which promises to change radically our discipline and, more generally, science as we know it. But is it so?