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    Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    Unavailable
    Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    Unavailable
    Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    Ebook312 pages4 hours

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

    By Cathy O'Neil

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A former Wall Street quant sounds the alarm on Big Data and the mathematical models that threaten to rip apart our social fabric—with a new afterword
     
    “A manual for the twenty-first-century citizen . . . relevant and urgent.”—Financial Times
     
    NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Boston Globe • Wired • Fortune • Kirkus Reviews • The Guardian • Nature • On Point
     
    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. Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9780553418828
    Unavailable
    Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    Author

    Cathy O'Neil

    Cathy O’Neil is the author of Weapons of Math Destruction.

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    Reviews for Weapons of Math Destruction

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    • 2/5
      This book spent a lot of time telling stories and avoided taking a deeper dive on data science. A lot of this would have been better suited to a series of longer blog posts. If you’re interested in data science and how it’s affecting the world around us, I would suggest looking elsewhere.
    • 5/5
      A chilling analysis of the big data algorithms that rule our society in ways we don’t always realise, and how their results impact us negatively, increasing inequalities and injustices in groups where it would be most needed. Most of the chapters focus on the American reality, but it’s not hard to imagine how they would translate to our side of the pond.
      Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Yes, this book does deserve its title in all caps.Written by Cathy O’Neal, who loves numbers possibly more than I do, this book does an excellent job of showing the public all of the algorithms that rule our lives that aren’t ideal and why they aren’t ideal. In a non-mathy way, which makes me quite sad and why I have rated this book 4/5. I wanted my math!Back to the book. What makes this book great is O’Neal doesn’t just talk about the worst WMDs (Weapons of Math Destruction – and remember that, because that is how she refers to them) but also covers some systems that DO work really well and WHY they work. If you are frustrated with the outcomes that keep coming up in your life, read this book. If you hate math but want to understand what is going on with all those ads, how what you do can affect so many different things throughout you life!Well written and easy to read, this book was flowing and well paced. A good read, I don’t want to spoil this for anyone interested. It’s worth the read and no single part is better than the rest. If you are interested in what controls so many things around you, read this. Read this now.I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
    • 3/5
      Dear Weapons,

      Job changers can rationalize anything. That's ok. They probably need to. But you write about that in the first person a little too much for me to take it all as seriously as maybe I am supposed to?

      This was a dnf for me. Not because it wasn't kinda interesting anyway, it was.

      Not because even though I got tired of you explaining why you worked for the dark side til you didn't over and over again, because that was actually interesting too.

      But because my ILL got recalled.

      I'll look for you again because I still want to learn more about what you have to say.

      Sincerely,
      Don't want my privileges revoked
    • 2/5
      This book just wasn't for me, I think. I didn't finish it and it will be passed along to someone who can appreciate it more. I gave up at the halfway point. I liked the subject, just didn't like the writing style!
    • 4/5
      A nice overview of the misuses and inherent biases of many different decision-making tools based on "big data". O'Neil dubs these biased algorithms "Weapons of Math Destruction", and provides many examples of the negative effects of these tools, in particular, of the disenfranchisement, social immobility, credit traps, price gouging, and other nastiness done to poor people in the name of efficiency and profit. Luckily for the poor, these algorithms are also increasingly affecting middle class people in similar ways, as companies insinuate they way into people's driving habits, recreational choices, "wellness", psychological state, and political relevance.She calls for careful ethical consideration and assessment of these toxic algorithms, but I was left feeling that the political will to regulate these tools is unlikely to be there for us, especially as these tools are exceptionally helpful for businesses to maximize their profits at the expense of employees and customers alike. Add in her observations that many of the worst offenders either actively help the richest Americans or can be avoided by the application of a bit of money, and it's hard to see any hope of change until such time as some sufficiently horrible event occurs that affectis a broad enough range of people to force change. (Just kidding, obviously, as the 2008 financial crisis would have seemed like just the sort of thing to make the government punish offenders and regulate the financial industry, but that certainly didn't happen.)
    • 4/5
      This cleverly-titled book seems to have been a direct response to the Occupy movement and is a very focused and well-argued overview of some of the decision algorithms that influence all aspects of society. Over the ten chapters of the book, O'Neil introduces us to different algorithms in ten areas of modern society and then slowly goes through how they were implemented and how they can be biased against certain groups. O'Neil does an excellent job translating the math into very understandable examples and walking the reader through how so many of these algorithms are used in different areas of modern society. The examples do seem slightly repetitive but her focus on pulling the cover back never wavers and provides something tangible for the reader to be frustrated about. Even though I thought I know about many of these algorithms, I definitely thought more about this issue such as why do I have to provide my SSN number to sign up for a cell phone. Hopefully with more people reading this we will be able to demand more transparency in these algorithms which could lead to a more just society.
    • 4/5
      A very readable discussion about the exponential rise in the use of mathematical models to analyze everything from consumer preferences to where crime is most likely to occur to college rankings. O'Neill has a broad background in the use of mathematics and statistical modelling and writes in an engaging manner. Unfortunately the book is long on anecdote and short on verification. She has world view that happens to match mine in many ways, but I'm not comfortable using anecdotes to reach conclusions. Thus, I say it's worth reading to get a good overview of the questions to ask but not for the conclusions she reaches. More data would be required for that. Of course that would make it a less engaging book but there you go.
    • 3/5
      Cathy O'Neil's book is original and timely. No other book that I know of addresses the topic of the application of algorithms to our daily lives, and this topic will rapidly become more important as private and public entities at all levels utilize algorithms with increasing frequency to make decisions with little or no human input. Algorithms are mathematical models that apply a set of rules to data in order to help classify or make decisions about the data set. Taking decisions out of people's hands is ostensibly a good thing under many circumstances where prejudice has historically impeded advancement of specific groups within the American landscape. However O'Neil deftly describes some fundamental problems with the applied vs. theoretical algorithms. I would summarize this as a problem with scale, refinement, and suitability. O'Neil explains how algorithms can be used at the wrong scale, have ho feedback of outcomes in order to refine them, and/or are applied to data for which they were never designed to function. She does this through a series of anecdotes where the use of algorithms has had serious negative impacts on individuals or groups, and she puts a human face on the outliers - the people who have suffer when algorithms fail, when they always do for some portion of the data.Given her deep and varied background in data science, O'Neil has the expertise to address the algorithms at their constructive level, however, the reader may be left a bit wanting for a deeper explanation of exactly how the algorithms in question is flawed. I think readers will find this either relieving or frustrating. As a scientist, there were times when I wanted a deeper explanation of the nature of a particular algorithm's flaw, but this is a book of social commentary at its heart, and many readers will welcome the absence of the particulars. Due in part to O"Neil's clear writing, you do not need any mathematical background to read and understand the book. Essentially, O'Neil makes the argument that people are not pieces of data, and if they are treated as such (as they will increasingly be), then there will be serious human consequences. While I don't agree with every argument, it is an important book and one which I am glad to have read, and I recommend it.
    • 4/5
      O'Neil takes us on a journey through life, and explains how big data, although useful in many capacities, can be detrimental to the lives of many people such as low income, minorities, and the mentally ill. A main take away is that for big data models to be successful there needs to be continuous "smart" evolution of models using data gathered overtime, and an acknowledgment that there can be harm done to some segments of the population. This was well worth the read, and something I would suggest to those interested in the implications of big data on society.
    • 4/5
      Very timely book. Cathy, once a data analyst for D.E. Shaw, illuminates the inhumane direction of humanity through algorithms. These algorithms separate class and race amongst other things. Education, auto insurance, Facebook is all under scrutiny for their manipulation of the unaware public.
    • 4/5
      Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction explores how the use of data mining and "neutral" algorithms wind up having a much larger impact on our lives than we might suspect. O'Neil covers a variety of subjects, including employment, advertising, political engagement, and consumer credit, demonstrating how businesses use complex mathematical systems to pad their bottom line without addressing real and pervasive discrimination.As much commentary as explanation, O'Neil is particularly interested in how these algorithms create and sustain feedback loops which perpetuate the very stereotypes and discriminatory practices they were meant to alleviate.Weapons of Math Destruction does not require an understanding of advanced math, and O'Neil does a good job of explaining the underlying principals without relying on jargon. I would recommend it to anyone interested in how technological systems are playing an increasing -- and invisible role -- in shaping our society.N.B.: I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.
    • 4/5
      Excellent repudiation of the prevailing ideology/religion of dataism. Its limitations and dangers. The stories presented here are not anecdotal or edge-case, they are central and impact nearly all of us. Dataism is seductive and the fault is usually not with the mathematicians or programmers, but management who wields them in ways they don't understand. The solution is to have a balance of algorithm and humans, with semi-automated systems helping decision makers. This is already happening with some robo-trader products that are a mix of algo and human. Regardless this issue will continue to grow and likely lead to a backlash at some point in the future as we continue to work out how to integrate computers safely into society.
    • 3/5
      upsetting, not surprising.
    • 4/5
      Finding a book authored by an Ivy League mathematician that is both interesting and relatable to non-mathematicians is always a nice surprise. The information O'Neil provides on often-unregulated data brokering and predictive software programs is fresh, crucial, and backed up by many examples of actual and potential problems (as well as assorted proposed solutions) for American consumers and business leaders of all types. Even if number crunching isn't your bag, I recommend reading it to gain awareness of new computational technology trends that directly impact your wallet--and your privacy--in invisible ways. Should definitely be on educator/criminal justice/finance major reading lists. I'd probably have rated it higher, but she lost a couple notches with me for obvious lapses in political impartiality in a book devoted to quantitative mathematical science.
    • 5/5
      What happens when we place value in statistics that aren't always accurate? What happens when a group of people blindly accept these untested and opaque models as the foundation for their society? In search for a utopian society, Big Data promises to deliver us to a dystonian society where everything is for sale and we can expect as many false positives as positives. The consequences of this data economy are huge, it is responsible for many negative factors in our society such as inequality and the loss of our civil liberties. Man is stripped of his human nature and reduced to a scientific animal with human behaviorism, he is only capable and the extent of his environment. "Data over people" is the message of this book, the author puts forth many examples of how we've truly lost touch with reality. Even though these data models are known to be wrong, there is no feedback loop or agenda to fix them. We accept everything and question nothing, as a result our future looks bleak and terrible. Individuals that are out-of-touch with the world will be dictating the path the world goes.
    • 4/5
      Although this book focuses on math, models and algorithms, Cathy O'Neill manages to bypass all of the technical jargon and explain how these models work in plain English. O'Neill's key point are that many of these models, such as evaluating teacher performance by using test scores, software used to determine which resumes to look at for a job, and models designed to predict where crime will happen are unfair. She uses that term a lot, but she makes a compelling argument to back it up. Her main points are that certain models (but not all) have the ability to devastate and discriminate against a whole section of people, ad are currently doing so. The models that do this she calls Weapons of Math Destruction or WMDs. WMDs have three key components that make them dangerous, and without any one of them, they wouldn't be. These three characteristics are: Opacity on how the models makes determinations/what factors are included, Scale (only software that can affect a large number of people are WMDs), and lastly, these models have no feedback loop for errors. To clarify that last point, these models don't know when they've got it wrong. There is no way for it to know if a teacher it recommended get fired was actually a good teacher that eventually became principal at his or her new school and improved student success. There is no way for it to know if a person whose resume they weeded out would have taken the company into new directions. As she says on page 133, "The system has no inkling that it got one person, or even a thousand people entirely wrong." There simply isn't a way for the model to know that it's gotten it wrong, and rethink things. O'Neill spends most of the book going into detail about many different models and their unfairness. Part of the problems is that in our society's effort to create models to predict behavior, we use proxies so that we can manipulate the numbers, but proxies can never represent the real thing because life is complicated and cannot be boiled down to a set of numbers. Often these proxies help misrepresent the truth and in the case of most of these models, the ones who suffer are often those who are poor because the data that can be gathered on them doesn't read well: credit scores, zip codes, education, etc. None of these data points however, can tell you if they're trying to put their life back together but circumstances have been cruel, and so a large population of underserved people are now underserved by software. As she says on page 204, "Big Data processes codify the past. They do not invent the future." When a algorithm reinforces the past, it reinforces all of the things that come along with it, including the racism and, the classism and spits that back out. O'Neill only stops to tell us how to fix this problem in the conclusion. After promising for the whole book to talk about how to fix this problem, it's only in the last twenty pages that she gets down to her proposed solutions. While her solutions seem good, they didn't seem as well researched as the rest of the book, and I felt rushed between one solution to the next. The only solution that seemed like it might actually work was the one that the EU implemented, only because it had actually been done before. If O'Neill had spent as much time researching and writing about her solutions as she did on even a fourth of the book, it would be a much better book, but instead it feels a little one-sided, without much of an idea on how to change this and move forward, much like some of the models she discusses. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
    • 5/5
      A very important read. Eye opening!! I knew I was affected by some of this, but seeing how the war on the poor is reinforced by WMD's really opened my eyes. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      I wish this book were required reading for the human race. O'Neil does a masterful job of taking us through several issues and showing us how our reliance on Big Data - and our blind worship of anything that smacks of math and statistics - is hurting us. O'Neil starts the book with an example of teachers fired for poor performance, and how the school districts involved had no idea how the performance was being measured. They hired an outside firm to do it, and the model the outside firm used was a black box. It's such a scary idea - someone can get fired and no one - not even that person's boss - knows why, except that some third party said some 'score' they assigned the employee was bad. The school districts might as well flip a coin, for all the good such 'evaluation' of performance does for them.O'Neil then goes on to explain the sort of models that are used in Big Data, and how some of them are fine, and some of them are WMDs: Weapons of Math Destruction. She goes on to cover college admissions, online advertising, the criminal justice system, getting a job, job performance, applying for credit, and getting insurance - and she shows how there are models at play that take data and do really stupid things with it. More importantly, there is no feedback loop to these models, or the feedback loop is broken, so the models are never improved. Also, O'Neil shows how there can be a cascading effect: if one model does someone harm by, say, denying them credit, that can then have a negative impact in other areas of that person's life, like trying to get or keep a job. This is a very important book, and O'Neil does a really good job of making something potentially dull into a real page-turner. I highly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      One of the funniest bits of Little Britain was where David Walliams as Carol Beer would type a request into the computer, before turning to the customer and saying ‘Computer says no’… Whilst it is funny, it is not so funny when it happens to you. In this book, O’Neil, a former Wall Street quant raises alarm bells on the way that these mathematical models have infiltrated our lives. We don’t see them, but these algorithms that help us with our searches online and finding books, films and other items on online sites are now being used to determine just how much of a risk you are. Next time you want a loan, to renew insurance or just need to get another job O’Neil thinks that some of us may have a problem.

      She calls them ‘Weapons of Maths Destruction’; these are incontestable, unregulated and opaque algorithms. They are being used by companies to decide the tiniest details. They are used because they make larger profits for corporations and most worryingly for us is that they are frequently conclude the wrong thing having made incorrect assumptions about individuals. As the saying goes ‘crap in; crap out’…

      Having worried the life out of the reader, O’Neil goes onto suggest a variety of things that could help; more regulation, better design of the code and us being aware of their use. The writing is clear, if a little dry and technical at times. The examples are a little American centric, but you can see the way that it is going in the UK. Even though the title mentions the dreaded word maths, it really isn’t that mathematical. Worthwhile reading.
    • 3/5
      Although I do not disagree with the content, it is a bit of a ramble and repetitive.
    • 4/5
      This book offers a big bucket of ice water to pour over your enthusiasm for big data and analytics. It?s an antidote for techno-utopian hype, a cautionary lesson for those who work with data, and an eye-opener for everyone else who lives in our data-obsessed world. As it turns out, there?s a downside. Who knew?I?ve read a number of books about analytics and big data (pick your buzzword), and sometimes there?s a mention about the possibility of privacy concerns. In Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O?Neil shows us that the loss of privacy is just the beginning of the mischief that can come from the misuse of analytics. From unintended consequences to intentionally predatory industries, the systems that offer to optimize business decisions sometimes cause significant harm. O?Neil?s describes weapons of math destruction (cleverly abbreviated to WMDs) as systems which (1) harm the subjects of inquiry (2) at scale (3) without accountability. Black-box scores are automating decisions about education, employment, credit, and even prison terms. Even the seemingly harmless activity of choosing which ads to show a web browser sometimes embodies the dark preferences of predatory businesses.Everyone who works with data about people?every analyst, every data scientist, every data enthusiast?ought to read this book. The specific examples of models that work against people are worth considering, and they should be the starting point for a longer exploration of how, and why, to limit the automation of decision-making.I hope that schools that teach analytics will include it in their Ethics of Analytics courses, too. If they don?t have that ethics course yet, this book provides an excellent illustration of why they should.The book itself is a quick read, if not one designed to make the reader particularly happy about the world. It?s worth reading to the end, where O?Neil starts?just?to get into solutions. This book is just the start of the conversation, but it?s a worthy start.The book itself is a quick read, if not one designed to make the reader particularly happy about the world. But this is the world we live in, and all of us interact with these systems all the time. Take the red pill, and be aware of what you may be up against.
    • 4/5
      O'Neil is a very good writer and explains how computerized mathematical models are used in ways that harm the poor and powerless. It's obvious that she's a genius when it comes to math and statistics, but sometimes her politics seem a little too idealistic for my taste.
    • 4/5
      Changed my mind in respect to various number crunching instances, especially in cases where bias is baked into the institution developing the algorithms.
    • 4/5
      I really wanted to like this book; and while it was an easy & pleasant read, I was hoping that the author would go into a bit more depth regarding the actual types of 'math' that BIG data uses. What calculations are used to determine patterns? How are trends discovered?...What kind of powerful statistical procedures are used in analyzing the sea of data that is produced by the internet data pools? The examples were real and thought-provoking. I believed her warning about the danger of these tools for our democracy. However, I felt the author's theme in this book was scatter-shot and needed to be more focused on the specialty of data science. But overall, I am glad that I read it. #bigdata

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book by Cathy O'Neil is excellent. Our society has changed dramatically over the last few decades, yet many of us are unaware of what is happening. The changes are widespread and dramatic, yet they sneak into our lives. But this book is not just about social media. It is a commentary on how corporations, governments, and agencies use algorithms to separate us into categories. Often, the algorithms are imperfect, yet the effect of these mathematical constructs is catastrophic for millions. She has devoted each chapter to a different case: healthcare, banking, performance appraisal, etc. Do we have a way out? I don't know. Yet, if we are aware of the dangers, we may be better prepared to face life's changing challenges. The book is excellent.
    • 3/5
      Very interesting book on how computer forecasting or algorithms are controlling our lives (big data).
      Especially impactful is how degree mills or private colleges prey on the poor. Computers aren't always right ! Skimmed parts.
    • 4/5
      This book offers a big bucket of ice water to pour over your enthusiasm for big data and analytics. It’s an antidote for techno-utopian hype, a cautionary lesson for those who work with data, and an eye-opener for everyone else who lives in our data-obsessed world. As it turns out, there’s a downside. Who knew?I’ve read a number of books about analytics and big data (pick your buzzword), and sometimes there’s a mention about the possibility of privacy concerns. In Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil shows us that the loss of privacy is just the beginning of the mischief that can come from the misuse of analytics. From unintended consequences to intentionally predatory industries, the systems that offer to optimize business decisions sometimes cause significant harm. O’Neil’s describes weapons of math destruction (cleverly abbreviated to WMDs) as systems which (1) harm the subjects of inquiry (2) at scale (3) without accountability. Black-box scores are automating decisions about education, employment, credit, and even prison terms. Even the seemingly harmless activity of choosing which ads to show a web browser sometimes embodies the dark preferences of predatory businesses.Everyone who works with data about people—every analyst, every data scientist, every data enthusiast—ought to read this book. The specific examples of models that work against people are worth considering, and they should be the starting point for a longer exploration of how, and why, to limit the automation of decision-making.I hope that schools that teach analytics will include it in their Ethics of Analytics courses, too. If they don’t have that ethics course yet, this book provides an excellent illustration of why they should.The book itself is a quick read, if not one designed to make the reader particularly happy about the world. It’s worth reading to the end, where O’Neil starts—just—to get into solutions. This book is just the start of the conversation, but it’s a worthy start.The book itself is a quick read, if not one designed to make the reader particularly happy about the world. But this is the world we live in, and all of us interact with these systems all the time. Take the red pill, and be aware of what you may be up against.
    • 1/5
      O'Neil spoke at the 2016 Wisconsin Book Festival, where I enjoyed her powerpoint and wit enough to pick up a copy of this book. I hoped for a more nuanced discussion of the issues than her speech had provided, and I was disappointed.

      O'Neil addresses the ways that sorting algorithms change lives by means of imprisonment, policing, employment, and democracy in a digital age, as well as issues of insurance and marketing. These issues are extremely important, critical for life in the 21st century, and tools for the exacerbation or removal of institutionalized privilege and prejudice, yet organization and prioritization remove the teeth this book might have had. O'Neil comes from a personal history of working closely with some of the institutions that perpetuate these, and has a broad technical background that allows her to understand and explain why they work the way they do. But what she has produced here is an impassioned manifesto against specific algorithms instead of clear-headed discussion.

      She drives the first half of the book by her own narrative which, though briefly engaging, is not relevant or vast enough to sustain that much of a book with such a wide scope. O'Neil arranges each chapter similarly, devoting each to a situation in which these algorithms are employed and presenting background data. (Sidenote: this book seems to me to be well-researched, and I had no factual doubts.) The accounts of the algorithms and the damage they cause were punctuated not by countering examples of algorithms in similar situations doing well, or possible solutions, but with generalized opinions from O'Neil on what is wrong with society and whose fault it is. I reached the last topical chapter and feared that her outlook was entirely pessimistic--perhaps even advocating primitivism, since she did not seem to suggest any solutions for these exclusively technological problems--but in the conclusion, all the hopeful counter-examples and anecdotes are collected. This prevents them being seen as practical solutions and evaluated alongside the harmful examples, where they could be usefully contrasted.

      O'Neil's editorializing prevents this book from being a good basic source on these problems. She evaluates most problems in an urban internet setting, and does not address the losses faced by those who do not have access at all to these systems--a demographic that perhaps stands to lose even more, by not registering as human in an increasingly online world. She also uses "employers," "insurers," "our society," and other terms so generally that her declarations stretch credibility. Each issue in this book could have been addressed more concisely, with more nuance, and more detail had this editorializing been cut. Because of the relevance of this content, and the necessity for clear information on it, these were oversights I could not forgive.

      The best part of this book by far was the section of Chapter 10, "The Targeted Citizen: Civic Life" that dealt with targeted political advertising and the effect of social media on the voting process. The information was new and more specific, and the inside perspective useful.
    • 4/5
      Interesting introduction to the science and politics of big data by a mathematician who was on the front lines of the 2008 crash.