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CNN Asking A Very Good, Reasonable Question On This Fine Day

CNN MoneyIt’s no surprise that inequality in the U.S. is on the rise. But what you might not know is that math is partly to blame.

In a new book, “Weapons of Math Destruction,” Cathy O’Neil details all the ways that math is essentially being used for evil (my word, not hers).

From targeted advertising and insurance to education and policing, O’Neil looks at how algorithms and big data are targeting the poor, reinforcing racism and amplifying inequality.

These “WMDs,” as she calls them, have three key features: They are opaque, scalable and unfair.

When the article kicks off with the phrase “weapons of MATH destruction.”

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Just can’t stand all the racists out there weaponizing mathematics. Here we’ve had Newton and Einstein and NASA using math or trying to use math for good and to better the world…. and then here come the racists stealing and weaponizing math. Slinging WMDs all over the joint. Oppressing entire races of people with the order of operations. Sad!

As the article states, this is all based off this book by some chick who has a PhD in mathematics from some school called Harvard. So what’s she really talking about?

 

Denied a job because of a personality test? Too bad — the algorithm said you wouldn’t be a good fit. Charged a higher rate for a loan? Well, people in your zip code tend to be riskier borrowers. Received a harsher prison sentence? Here’s the thing: Your friends and family have criminal records too, so you’re likely to be a repeat offender.

 

Ummm failed a personality test? Be cooler. Loans too high? Get a better job. Don’t like your prison sentence? Don’t break the fucking law. Problem solved. Obviously all this spawned from doing god’s work (blogging).

She started blogging — at mathbabe.org — about her frustrations, which eventually turned into “Weapons of Math Destruction.”

“Mathbabe.org” Classic.

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PS — TIME chasing a similar trail. Stay tuned.

PPS — As a sociology major, this article actually isn’t a bad or foreign read. It brings up several compelling and important sociological issues. But boiling all that down to somehow asking if math is racist is simple, unapologetic, uncloaked clickbait.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I clicked.