{"product_id":"weapons-of-math-destruction-how-big-data-increases-inequality-and-threatens-democracy","title":"Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy","description":"Longlisted for the National Book Award | New York Times Bestseller\n\nA former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life and threaten to rip apart our social fabric.\n\nWe 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.\n\nBut 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.\n\nTracing 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.\n\nO’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.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0553418815\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: RDV.0553418815.VG\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:O'Neil, Cathy\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: This book is in excellent condition. There may be minimal writing on the inside cover or cover page. Cover image on the book may vary from photo. Ships out quickly in a secure plastic mailer.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Reliant Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48045885685937,"sku":"RDV.0553418815.VG","price":6.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.reliantbookstore.com\/products\/weapons-of-math-destruction-how-big-data-increases-inequality-and-threatens-democracy","provider":"Reliant Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}