Weapons of Math Destruction Themes

In Weapons of Math Destruction, author Cathy O’Neil writes that humanity is in the midst of a “new revolution.” “Big Data”—a field that uses huge swaths of data to make various industries more efficient or profitable—is rapidly changing the way society functions. And while O’Neil acknowledges that data collection and computer algorithms can be helpful in certain contexts, she also warns that behind the scenes, much of modern life is dictated by machines…

In the early pages of Weapons of Math Destruction, data scientist and author Cathy O’Neil shares her experience working at a major hedge fund at the onset of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. At this time, she began to feel troubled when she realized that human bias is written into the algorithms that are used to determine crucial things like job proficiency, recidivism rates for criminals, creditworthiness, and insurability—especially because algorithms are supposed…

One of the hallmark qualities of a WMD—a “weapon of math destruction,” or a destructive mathematical algorithm—is, in author Cathy O’Neil’s view, the fact that it’s “opaque.” In other words, the systems that govern it (and sometimes its overall purpose) are kept secret or shrouded in mystery. Things like FICO credit scores and baseball statistics used in game wagers are transparent: anyone can access them. But tech companies like Google and Facebook use…