Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

by Cathy O'Neil

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules.
But as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil reveals, the mathematical models being used today are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination--propping up the lucky, punishing the downtrodden, and undermining our democracy in the process.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Technology, Politics, Mathematics, Economics, Business

259 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

Cathy O’Neil is the author of the bestselling Weapons of Math Destruction, which won the Euler Book Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award. She received her PhD in mathematics from Harvard and has worked in finance, tech, and academia. She launched the Lede Program for data journalism at Columbia University and recently founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company. O’Neil is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View.

Reviews

[Markéta Gajdošová]

Vážně jsem chtěla aby se mi to líbilo. Ale nezvládla jsem knihu ani dočíst a vzdala jsem se pote, co jsem po přečtení cca polovinu nenašla jedinou zajímavou myšlenku ani žádnou novou informaci. Pro pochopení myšlenky knihy a všeho co je v ní řečeno stačí přečíst úvod. Skoda. Hodně jsem se na ni těšila.

[Karla]

Kafemlejnky jsou zlo. Když vím, jak fungujou, tak je obejdu, když nevím, tak mě semelou.

(Představa, že nějaká soukromá pojišťovna nedá dražší pojistný ve špatný čtvrti ve jménu vyššího principu mravního mi ale přijde trochu ujetá.)