Weapons of math destruction : how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy / Cathy O'Neil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Neil, Cathy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Big data--Social aspects--United States.

Big data.

Big data--Political aspects--United States.

Social indicators--Mathematical models--Moral and ethical aspects.

Social indicators.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

United States--Social conditions--21st century.

United States.

Social conditions.

Big data--Social aspects.

Big data--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

x, 275 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Crown Publishing, [2017]

Summary:

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 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: If a poor student can't get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he's then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. Models are propping up the lucky and punishing the downtrodden, creating a 'toxic cocktail for democracy.' Welcome to the dark side of Big Data. Tracing the arc of a person's life, O'Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These 'weapons of math destruction' score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health. O'Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it's up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives.

Contents:

Bomb parts: What is a model?

Shell shocked: My journey of disillusionment

Arms race: Going to college

Propaganda machine: Online advertising

Civilian casualties: Justice in the age of big data

Ineligible to serve: Getting a job

Sweating bullets: On the job

Collateral damage: Landing credit

No safe zone: Getting insurance

The targeted citizen: Civic life.

Notes:

"With a new afterword"--Cover.

"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a divison of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 2016" -- title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0553418831

9780553418835

OCLC:

967846653

Online:

https://mathbabe.org/