Weapons of math destruction

how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy

Paperback, 259 pages

English language

Published Nov. 16, 2016 by Allen Lane.

ISBN:
978-0-241-29681-3
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
958464372

View on OpenLibrary

5 stars (4 reviews)

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 …

10 editions

An absolut must-read for a world emprisoned in a golden cage

5 stars

If you wish to understand better what is at stakes with the algorithms and the global digital maze we seem to be prisoner of, then, this is a must read. Cathy O'Neil very clearly unravel the intricate technical, philosophical, political and socioeconomic logic at play. She shows how they work together to force an even more violent neoliberalism in every area of our daily lives, whether social, cultural, professional, judiciary, educational or political and economic. It is both quite scary and at the same time empowering, as it gives us the basics to look for collective ways to progressively get out of the maze we've lost ourselves in. As the say goes, knowledge is power, and I believe it has never been more true than today.

I would recommend to read it along Shoshana Zuboff's (bookwyrm.social/author/39159/s/shoshana-zuboff) "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (bookwyrm.social/book/260163/s/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism). They nicely complement each …

Suit up for Combat!

5 stars

This was an exceptional book. It's not heavy into statistics but gives the rationale for what is a WMD (Weapon of Math Destruction) and WMDs maybe a new term but we have been under the exploitation of WMDs well before we think. It's not a new phenomenon but it is one that we should be aware of.

Take a read and learn how about them so that we can all do better to combat them and use math to not only help describe the world but make it a better place to live in.

Subjects

  • Big data
  • Social aspects
  • Human behavior
  • Mathematical models
  • Algorithms
  • Données volumineuses
  • Aspect social
  • Comportement humain
  • Modèles mathématiques
  • Algorithmes

Lists