Weapons of Math Destruction
{{Short description|2016 nonfiction book by Cathy O'Neil}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Weapons of Math Destruction
| image = Weapons of Math Destruction.jpg
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| caption = First edition
| author = Cathy O'Neil
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| country = United States
| language = English
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| subject = Mathematics, race, ethnicity
| genre = Non-fiction
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| publisher = Crown Books
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| pub_date = 2016
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| awards = Euler Book Prize
| isbn = 0553418815
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Weapons of Math Destruction is a 2016 American book about the societal impact of algorithms, written by Cathy O'Neil. It explores how some big data algorithms are increasingly used in ways that reinforce preexisting inequality. The book was widely reviewed.See:
- {{citation|last=Lozano|first=Guadalupe I.|work=MathSciNet|mr=3561130|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction}}
- {{citation|last=Braga|first=Filipe Meirelles Ferreira|date=June 2016|doi=10.12957/rmi.2016.25939|issue=1|journal=Mural Internacional|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=7|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Lamb|first=Evelyn|date=August 2016|department=Roots of Unity|journal=Scientific American|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/review-weapons-of-math-destruction/}}
- {{citation|last=Shankar|first=Kalpana|date=September 2016|journal=Science|title=A data scientist reveals how invisible algorithms perpetuate inequality (review of Weapons of Math Destruction)|url=https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/2016/09/09/weapons-of-math-destruction/}}
- {{citation|last=Doctorow|first=Cory|date=September 2016|work=BoingBoing|title=Weapons of Math Destruction: invisible, ubiquitous algorithms are ruining millions of lives|url=https://boingboing.net/2016/09/06/weapons-of-math-destruction-i.html}}
- {{citation|last=McEvers|first=Kelly|date=September 2016|work=All Things Considered|publisher=NPR|title='Weapons Of Math Destruction' outlines dangers of relying on data analytics}}
- {{citation|last=Hayden|first=Robert W.|date=January 2017|journal=MAA Reviews|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/weapons-of-math-destruction}}
- {{citation|last=Varis|first=Piia|date=January 2017|journal=Diggit|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://www.diggitmagazine.com/book-reviews/weapons-math-destruction-how-big-data-increases-inequality-and-threatens-democracy}}
- {{citation|last=Omitola|first=Tope|date=January 2017|journal=ACM Computing Reviews|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://computingreviews.com/review/Review_review.cfm?review_id=144993}}
- {{citation|last=Jain|first=Apurv|date=March 2017|doi=10.1057/s11369-017-0027-3|issue=2|journal=Business Economics|pages=123–125|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=52|s2cid=157914174}}
- {{citation|last=Schrag|first=Francis|date=March 2017|doi=10.14507/er.v24.2197|journal=Education Review|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=24|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Bradley|first=James|date=March 2017|issue=1|journal=Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith|page=54|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA497487651|volume=69}}
- {{citation|last=Maloney|first=Cory|date=Spring 2017|issue=1|journal=Journal of Markets & Morality|page=194|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA545339566|volume=20}}
- {{citation|last=Roy|first=Michael|date=April 2017|doi=10.5860/crl.78.3.403|issue=3|journal=College & Research Libraries|page=403|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=78|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Case|first=James|date=May 2017|issue=4|journal=SIAM News|title=When big data algorithms discriminate (review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/when-big-data-algorithms-discriminate|volume=50}}
- {{citation|last=Arslan|first=Faruk|date=July 2017|doi=10.1080/15536548.2017.1357388|issue=3|journal=Journal of Information Privacy and Security|pages=157–159|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=13|s2cid=188383106}}
- {{citation|last=Poovey|first=Mary|date=September 2017|doi=10.1090/noti1561|issue=8|journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society|pages=933–935|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=64|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Doyle|first=Tony|date=October 2017|doi=10.1080/01972243.2017.1354593|issue=5|journal=The Information Society|pages=301–302|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=33|s2cid=22283226}}
- {{citation|last=Mateen|first=Harris|issue=1|journal=Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law|pages=285–292|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/berkjemp39&i=291|volume=39|year=2018}}
- {{citation|last=Tunstall|first=Samuel|date=January 2018|doi=10.5038/1936-4660.11.1.10|issue=1|journal=Numeracy|title=Models as weapons (review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=11|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Woodson|first=Thomas|date=August 2018|doi=10.1080/23299460.2018.1495027|issue=3|journal=Journal of Responsible Innovation|pages=361–363|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=5|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Bansal|first=Gaurav|date=January 2019|doi=10.1080/15228053.2019.1587571|issue=1|journal=Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research|pages=60–63|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=21|s2cid=189618193}}
- {{citation|last=Verma|first=Shikha|date=June 2019|doi=10.1177/0256090919853933|issue=2|journal=Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers|pages=97–98|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=44|doi-access=free}}
- {{citation|last=Eusufzai|first=Zaki|date=September 2019|doi=10.1016/j.soscij.2019.04.002|issue=3|journal=The Social Science Journal|pages=425–426|title=Review of Weapons of Math Destruction|volume=56|s2cid=203099077}} It was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.{{citation|url=http://nationalbook.org/nba2016_nf_oneil-weapons-of-math-destruction.html|publisher=National Book Foundation|title=2016 National Book Award Longlist, Nonfiction}}{{citation|url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-national-book-awards-nonfiction-longlist|magazine=The New Yorker|title=The National Book Awards Longlist: Nonfiction|date=September 14, 2016}}{{citation|publisher=CNN|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/06/technology/weapons-of-math-destruction/|title=Math is racist: How data is driving inequality|author=Rawlins, Aimee|date=September 6, 2016}}
and won the Euler Book Prize.
Overview
O'Neil, a mathematician, analyses how the use of big data and algorithms in a variety of fields, including insurance, advertising, education, and policing, can lead to decisions that harm the poor, reinforce racism, and amplify inequality. According to National Book Foundation:
{{Blockquote
|text=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."
}}
She posits that these problematic mathematical tools share three key features: they are opaque, unregulated, and difficult to contest. They are also scalable, thereby amplifying any inherent biases to affect increasingly larger populations. WMDs, or Weapons of Math Destruction, are mathematical algorithms that supposedly take human traits and quantify them, resulting in damaging effects and the perpetuation of bias against certain groups of people.
Reception
The book received widespread praise for elucidating the consequences of reliance on big data models for structuring socioeconomic resources. Clay Shirky from The New York Times Book Review said "O'Neil does a masterly job explaining the pervasiveness and risks of the algorithms that regulate our lives," while pointing out that "the section on solutions is weaker than the illustration of the problem".{{citation|title=Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/books/review/weapons-of-math-destruction-cathy-oneil-and-more.html|newspaper=The New York Times Book Review|last=Shirky|first=Clay|date=October 3, 2016}} Kirkus Reviews praised the book for being "an unusually lucid and readable" discussion of a technical subject.{{citation|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-oneil/weapons-of-math-destruction/|magazine=Kirkus Reviews|date=July 19, 2016|title=Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy}}
In 2019, the book won the Euler Book Prize of the Mathematical Association of America.{{citation|url=http://ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/PrizeBooklet-2019.pdf|title=Euler Book Prize|work=Prizes and Awards|pages=3–4|publisher=Joint Mathematics Meetings|date=January 2019|via=American Mathematical Society|accessdate=2019-07-20}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.c-span.org/video/?414440-1/cathy-oneil-discusses-weapons-math-destruction Presentation by O'Neil on Weapons of Mass Destruction, September 20, 2016], C-SPAN
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Category:2016 non-fiction books
Category:Books about race and ethnicity
Category:English-language non-fiction books