"in the future, every decision mankind makes, every decision, is going to be informed by a cognitive system like Watson and, as a result, our lives in this world are going to be better for it."

well if by "better" you mean "more machine-like and regulated like animals in a zoo".

This is already somewhat true of consumer credit reports, and now this: http://www.ibtimes.com/china-use-big-data-rate-citizens-new-...