Cathy O'Neil is a data scientist and author of the blog mathbabe.org. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and taught at Barnard College before moving to the private sector, where she worked for the hedge fund D. E. Shaw. She then worked as a data scientist at various start-ups, building models that predict people's purchases and clicks. O'Neil started the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia and is the author of Doing Data Science. She is currently a columnist for Bloomberg View.
"O'Neil's book offers a frightening look at how algorithms are
increasingly regulating people. . . . Her knowledge of the power
and risks of mathematical models, coupled with a gift for analogy,
makes her one of the most valuable observers of the continuing
weaponization of big data. . . . [She] does a masterly job
explaining the pervasiveness and risks of the algorithms that
regulate our lives."--The New York Times Book Review Weapons of
Math Destruction is the Big Data story Silicon Valley proponents
won't tell. . . . [It] pithily exposes flaws in how information is
used to assess everything from creditworthiness to policing tactics
. . . a thought-provoking read for anyone inclined to believe that
data doesn't lie."--Reuters "This is a manual for the
twenty-first century citizen, and it succeeds where other big data
accounts have failed--it is accessible, refreshingly critical and
feels relevant and urgent."--Financial Times Insightful and
disturbing.--New York Review of Books "Weapons of Math
Destruction is an urgent critique of . . . the rampant misuse
of math in nearly every aspect of our lives."--Boston Globe "A
fascinating and deeply disturbing book."--Yuval Noah Harari,
author of Sapiens "Illuminating . . . [O'Neil] makes a
convincing case that this reliance on algorithms has gone too
far."--The Atlantic "A nuanced reminder that big data is only as
good as the people wielding it."--Wired "If you've ever suspected
there was something baleful about our deep trust in data, but
lacked the mathematical skills to figure out exactly what it was,
this is the book for you."--Salon "O'Neil 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. . . . While
Weapons of Math Destruction is full of hard truths and grim
statistics, it is also accessible and even entertaining. O'Neil's
writing is direct and easy to read--I devoured it in an
afternoon."--Scientific American "Indispensable . . . Despite the
technical complexity of its subject, Weapons of Math Destruction
lucidly guides readers through these complex modeling systems. . .
. O'Neil's book is an excellent primer on the ethical and moral
risks of Big Data and an algorithmically dependent world. . . . For
those curious about how Big Data can help them and their
businesses, or how it has been reshaping the world around them,
Weapons of Math Destruction is an essential starting
place."--National Post "Cathy O'Neil has seen Big Data from the
inside, and the picture isn't pretty. Weapons of Math
Destruction opens the curtain on algorithms that exploit people
and distort the truth while posing as neutral mathematical tools.
This book is wise, fierce, and desperately necessary."--Jordan
Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of How Not To Be
Wrong
"O'Neil has become [a whistle-blower] for the
world of Big Data . . . [in] her important new book. . . . Her work
makes particularly disturbing points about how being on the wrong
side of an algorithmic decision can snowball in incredibly
destructive ways."--Time
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