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

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    • Title:Weapons of math destruction : how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy / Cathy O'Neil.
    •    
    • Author/Creator:O'Neil, Cathy, author.
    • Published/Created:New York : Crown, [2016]
      ©2016

    • Holdings

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    • Library of Congress Subjects:Big data--Social aspects--United States.
      Big data--Political aspects--United States.
      Social indicators--Mathematical models--Moral and ethical aspects.
      Democracy--United States.
      United States--Social conditions--21st century.
    • Medical Subjects: 2000s
      Data Interpretation, Statistical.
      Datasets--statistics & numerical data
      Politics.
    • Edition:First edition.
    • Description:x, 259 pages ; 22 cm
    • 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.
    • Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-252) and index.
    • ISBN:9780553418811 (hardcover)
      0553418815 (hardcover)
      9780553418835 (paperback)
      0553418831 (paperback)
    • 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.
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