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book jacket
BOOK
Title Weapons of math destruction : how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy / Cathy O'Neil
Author O'Neil, Cathy
Imprint New York : Crown, [2016]

LIBRARY / MAP CALL NUMBER STATUS MESSAGE
 Stadsbibl:Slottet vån 2 Datorer, forskningsmetodik, journalistik  005 engelska    DUE 24-04-19  ---
 Malmö stadsarkiv:Dawit Isaak-biblioteket  005 engelska    CHECK SHELF  ---
Edition First edition
Descript x, 259 pages 22 cm
Note Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-252) and index
"A former Wall Street quantitative analyst sounds an alarm on mathematical modeling, a pervasive new force in society that threatens to undermine democracy and widen inequality,"--NoveList
"We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are 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. But as Cathy O'Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can't get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he's 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 'toxic cocktail for democracy.' Welcome to the dark side of Big Data. Tracing the arc of a person's life, O'Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These 'weapons of math destruction' score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health. O'Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it's 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."--Dust jacket
Subject Sociala indikatorer
Matematiska modeller
Big data -- Social aspects -- United States
Big data -- Political aspects -- United States
Social indicators -- Mathematical models -- Moral and ethical aspects
Algoritmer
Democracy -- United States
Big data -- sociala aspekter
Big data -- politiska aspekter
Förenta staterna
United States -- Social conditions -- 21st century
Classmark 005.7
ISBN/ISSN 9780553418835 (pbk.)
0553418831 (pbk.)
9780451497338 (international edition)
9780553418811 (hardcover)
0451497333 (international edition)
0553418815 (hardcover)
9780553418828 ((ebook)
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