Eric Siegel answers these eight questions:

1. What is predictive analytics?
2. Why is predictive analytics important?
3: Isn’t prediction impossible?
4. Is predictive analytics a big data thing?
5. Did Nate Silver use predictive analytics to forecast Obama’s elections?
6. Does predictive analytics invade privacy?
7. What are the hottest trends in predictive analytics?
8. What is the coolest thing predictive analytics has done?