Weapons of Math Destruction

Cathy O'Neil is a data scientist and blogger at mathbabe.org. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and taught at Barnard College before moving to the private sector and working for the hedge fund D. E. Shaw. She later worked as a data scientist at several start-ups, developing models to anticipate people's purchases and clicks. O'Neil founded Columbia's Lede Program in Data Journalism and is the author of Doing Data Science.

We live in the algorithm era. Decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we can obtain a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are increasingly being decided by machines rather than humans. In theory, this should lead to more fairness because everyone is judged by the same set of norms.

However, as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil demonstrates, today's mathematical models are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they are incorrect. Worryingly, they encourage discrimination by rewarding the fortunate, punishing the oppressed, and undermining our democracy in the process. Hello and welcome to the dark side of Big Data presented in Weapons of Math Destruction.

Among the best books on applied mathematics, O'Neil's book provides a terrifying glimpse into how algorithms are increasingly regulating people... Her understanding of the strength and risks of mathematical models, combined with a flair for analogy, makes her one of the most valuable observers of big data's ongoing weaponization. She does an excellent job of demonstrating the pervasiveness and dangers of the algorithms that govern our life.

Author: Cathy O'Neil

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Math-Destruction-Increases-Inequality/dp/0553418831/

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars (from 2886 reviews)

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