How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democary<\/p>\n
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives\u2014where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance\u2014are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Auteur: Cathy O’Neil<\/p>\n
Taal: Engels<\/p>\n
Bindwijze: paperback<\/p>\n
Rubriek: Mens en maatschappij<\/p>\n
Leverbaarheid: Direct leverbaar<\/p>\n
Uitgever: Penguin Books<\/p>\n
Verschijningsdatum: 2017-06-19T00:00:00+02:00<\/p>\n
Trefwoord:
\npolitiek
\ndemocratie
\nbig data<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life \u2014 and threaten to rip apart our social fabric.
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\nWe live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives\u2014where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance\u2014are 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.
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\nBut as Cathy O\u2019Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they\u2019re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can\u2019t get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he\u2019s then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. Models are propping up the lucky and punishing the downtrodden, creating a \u201ctoxic cocktail for democracy.\u201d Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.
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\nTracing the arc of a person\u2019s life, O\u2019Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These \u201cweapons of math destruction\u201d score teachers and students, sort r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health.
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\nO\u2019Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it\u2019s up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.
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\n\u201cWeapons of Math Destruction is the Big Data story Silicon Valley proponents won\u2019t tell\u2026 [It] pithily exposes flaws in how information is used to assess everything from creditworthiness to policing tactics\u2026 A thought-provoking read for anyone inclined to believe that data doesn\u2019t lie.\u201d \u2014Reuters
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\n\u201cO\u2019Neil is an ideal person to write this book. She is an academic mathematician turned Wall Street quant turned data scientist who has been involved in Occupy Wall Street and recently started an algorithmic auditing company. She is one of the strongest voices speaking out for limiting the ways we allow algorithms to influence our lives\u2026 While Weapons of Math Destruction is full of hard truths and grim statistics, it is also accessible and even entertaining. O\u2019Neil\u2019s writing is direct and easy to read\u2014I devoured it in an afternoon.\u201d \u2014Scientific American
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\n\u201cO\u2019Neil has become [a whistle-blower] for the world of Big Data\u2026 [in] her important new book\u2026 Her work makes particularly disturbing points about how being on the wrong side of an algorithmic decision can snowball in incredibly destructive ways.\u201d \u2014Time
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\n\u201cIn this simultaneously illuminating and disturbing account, [O\u2019Neil] describes the many ways in which widely used mathematic models\u2014based on \u2018prejudice, misunderstanding, and bias\u2019\u2014tend to punish the poor and reward the rich\u2026 She convincingly argues for both more responsible modeling and federal regulation. An unusually lucid and readable look at the daunting algorithms that govern so many aspects of our lives.\u201d \u2014Kirkus Reviews (starred)
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\n\u201cThis taut and accessible volume, the stuff of technophobes\u2019 nightmares, explores the myriad ways in which largescale data modeling has made the world a less just and equal place. O\u2019Neil speaks from a place of authority on the subject\u2026 Unlike some other recent books on data collection, hers is not hysterical; she offers more of a chilly wake-up call as she walks readers through the ways the \u2018big data\u2019 industry has facilitated social ills such as skyrocketing college tuitions, policing based on racial profiling, and high unemployment rates in vulnerable communities\u2026 eerily prescient.\u201d \u2014Publishers Weekly
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\n\u201cMany algorithms are slaves to the inequalities of power and prejudice. If you don\u2019t want these algorithms to become your masters, read Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O\u2019Neil to deconstruct the latest growing tyranny of an arrogant establishment.\u201d \u2014Ralph Nader, author of Unsafe at Any Speed
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\n\u201cIn this fascinating account, Cathy O\u2019Neil leverages her expertise in mathematics and her passion for social justice to poke holes in the triumphant narrative of Big Data. She makes a compelling case that math is being used to squeeze marginalized segments of society and magnify inequities. Her analysis is superb, her writing is enticing, and her findings are unsettling.\u201d \u2014Danah Boyd, founder of Data & Society and author of It\u2019s Complicated
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\n\u201cNext time you hear someone gushing uncritically about the wonders of Big Data, show them Weapons of Math Destruction. It\u2019ll be salutary.\u201d \u2014Felix Salmon, Fusion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[22],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4972","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-mens-en-maatschappij","8":"first","9":"instock","10":"product-type-external"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/4972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=4972"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=4972"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koeky.nl\/boeken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=4972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}