BooksDirect

Description - Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil

A former Wall Street data scientist sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life - and threaten to rip apart our social fabric

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives - whether we get a job or a loan, how much we pay for insurance - are being made 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 incontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination, creating a toxic cocktail for democracy.

Tracing the arc of a person's life, Cathy O'Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future as individuals and as a society. These "weapons of math destruction" score teachers and students, sort CVs, grant or deny loans, evaluate workers, target voters and monitor our health. O'Neil calls on modellers 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.

Buy Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil from Australia's Online Independent Bookstore, BooksDirect.

A Preview for this title is currently not available.
Customers Also Bought
All New Must Have Orange 430
Hardback , May '18
20% OFF!
RRP: $24.99 $19.99
Antifragile
Paperback , Jun '13
20% OFF!
RRP: $27.99 $22.39
Liars and Outliers
Hardback , Feb '12
RRP: $46.95 $46.01
Adam Spencer's 12 Days of Christmas!
Hardback , Dec '17
RRP: $0.00 $0.00
Make Believe: M. C. Escher for kids
Hardback , Mar '19
20% OFF!
RRP: $19.95 $15.96
Too Many Pills
Paperback , May '18
RRP: $0.00 $0.00
Glass Cage
Paperback , Jan '16
RRP: $42.74 $38.46
Rise And Fall Of Modern Medicine
Paperback , Nov '11
RRP: $40.07 $36.06
Big Switch
Paperback , Jul '23
RRP: $34.72 $31.24