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Triangle UXPA Book Club: "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil

When
28 Mar 2019
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Location
Market Street Coffee 227 S Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Please come join us at Market Street Coffee to discuss "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O’Neil!

"We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated.

But as Cathy O’Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. 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.” Welcome to the dark side of Big Data. "
– Weapons of Math Destruction.

Available in print and as an ebook from Amazon and other platforms. RSVP on Meetup for more details.

Worried you might not make it to Chapel Hill that night? Didn't finish the entire book? You are still welcome to join our conversation in person or here via Google Hangouts ! Please email Laurel Foote-Hudson if you have any questions.

Read our Code of Conduct for expectations of all event attendees.