Weapons of Math Destruction
Subtitle: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy
By: Cathy O'Neil
Publisher: Allen Lane
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Great Britain
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 259
ISBN-13: 9780241296813
Copyright date: 2916
Subjects: Big data; Social aspects; Human behavior; Mathematical models; Algorithms; Données volumineuses; Aspect social; Comportement humain; Modèles mathématiques; Algorithmes
Description: 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 loan, how much we pay for 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. And yet, as Cathy O'Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and incontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination. 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 CVs, grant or deny loans, evaluate workers, target voters, and monitor our health. O'Neil calls on modellers 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. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Bomb Parts: What Is a Model?; title: ch. 2 Shell Shocked: My Journey of Disillusionment; title: ch. 3 Arms Race: Going to College; title: ch. 4 Propaganda Machine: Online Advertising; title: ch. 5 Civilian Casualties: Justice In the Age of Big Data; title: ch. 6 Ineligible To Serve: Getting a Job; title: ch. 7 Sweating Bullets: On the Job; title: ch. 8 Collateral Damage: Landing Credit; title: ch. 9 No Safe Zone: Getting Insurance; title: ch. 10 The Targeted Citizen: Civic Life.