WeaponsofMathDestruction_HowBigDataIncre.epub

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy Cathy O'Neil Crown (2016) Rating: ★★★★☆ Tags: Political Science, Public Policy, General, Social Science, Privacy & Surveillance, Business & Economics, Statistics Political Sciencettt Public Policyttt Generalttt Social Sciencettt Privacy & Surveillancettt Business & Economicsttt Statisticsttt **Longlisted for the National Book Award A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life — and threaten to rip apart our social fabric** We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as Cathy O’Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: ......