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

by Cathy O'Neil

In 1943, at the height of World War II, when the American armies and industries needed every troop or worker they could find, the Internal Revenue Service tweaked the tax code, granting tax-free status to employer-based health insurance. This didn’t seem to be a big deal, certainly nothing to rival the headlines about the German surrender in Stalingrad or Allied landings on Sicily. At the time, only about 9 percent of American workers received private health coverage as a job benefit. But with the new tax-free status, businesses set about attracting scarce workers by offering health insurance. Within ten years, 65 percent of Americans would come under their employers’ systems. Companies already exerted great control over our finances. But in that one decade, they gained a measure of control—whether they wanted it or not—over our bodies.