“When I think about whether I want to take a job, I don't just think about whether it's technically interesting, although I do consider that. I also consider the question of whether it's good for the world.” ThinkingWorldWantJobsInteresting Author:Cathy O'Neil
“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
“Especially from my experience as a quant in a hedge fund - I naively went in there thinking that I would be making the market more efficient and then was like, oh my God, I'm part of this terrible system that is blowing up the world's economy, and I don't want to be a part of that.” ThinkingWorldWantWould BeEconomyTerribleFundEfficientBlowing UpHedge Fund Author:Cathy O'Neil
“It's a standard thing you hear from startup people - that their product is somehow improving the world. And if you follow the reasoning, you will get somewhere, and I'll tell you where you get: You'll get to the description of what happens to the winners under the system that they're building.” PeopleIfsWorldHappensBuildingProductsStandardsWinnerReasoningDescriptionImproving Author:Cathy O'Neil
“We've learned our lesson with finance because they made a huge goddamn explosion that almost shut down the world. But the thing I realized is that there might never be an explosion on the scale of the financial crisis happening with big data.” WorldMadeBigsMightHugeLessonsHappeningsCrisisFinancialI RealizedScalesFinanceDataExplosionsFinancial Crisis 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
