Big data’s human failing

Have we eliminated human bias or simply camouflaged it with technology? — 123rf.com

Big data is the new next big thing that everybody, from governments to banks and universities, are embracing. But what if mathematical models are not only entangled in the world’s problems, but fuelling many of them too? Cathy O’Neil’s book sounds a discordant note in the choir of big data.

WEAPONS of Math Destruction is the Big Data story Silicon Valley proponents won’t tell. The author, Cathy O’Neil, is a former academic mathematician and ex-hedge fund quant at D.E. Shaw, once part-owned by Lehman Brothers.