“So much of our society as a whole is gearing us to maximize our salary or bonus. Basically, we just think in terms of money. Or, if not money, then, if you're in academia, it's prestige. It's a different kind of currency. And there's this unmeasured dimension of all jobs, which is whether it's improving the world.” IfsThinkingWorldKindDifferentWholeJobsTermDimensionsOur SocietyDifferent KindsCurrencyImprovingSalaryPrestigeAcademiaBonus Author:Cathy O'Neil
“By construction, the world of big data is siloed and segmented and segregated so that successful people, like myself - technologists, well-educated white people, for the most part - benefit from big data, and it's the people on the other side of the economic spectrum, especially people of color, who suffer from it. They suffer from it individually, at different times, at different moments. They never get a clear explanation of what actually happened to them because all these scores are secret and sometimes they don't even know they're being scored.” PeopleKnowsWorldWellsDifferentSometimesMomentsBigsSufferingSidesWhiteSecretSuccessfulClearHappenedEconomicColorBenefitsEducatedDataExplanationScoreConstructionSuccessful PeopleSpectrumDifferent TimesWell Educated Author:Cathy O'Neil
“Because of my experience in Occupy, instead of asking the question, "Who will benefit from this system I'm implementing with the data?" I started to ask the question, "What will happen to the most vulnerable?" Or "Who is going to lose under this system? How will this affect the worst-off person?" Which is a very different question from "How does this improve certain people's lives?"” PeoplePersonsDoeDifferentHappensCertainAsksLosesWorstBenefitsAskingVulnerableDataImplementing Author:Cathy O'Neil
“There are lots of different ways that algorithms can go wrong, and what we have now is a system in which we assume because it's shiny new technology with a mathematical aura that it's perfect and it doesn't require further vetting. Of course, we never have that assumption with other kinds of technology.” WayKindDifferentCoursesPerfectTechnologyAssumingMathematicalDifferent WaysAssumptionNew TechnologyAurasAlgorithms Author:Cathy O'Neil
