Weapons of Math Destruction - Response

Weapons of Math Destruction – Cathy O'Neil

Area 1:

   In a world that heavily values data points, it is not surprising to see that big data is used to dictate many different aspects of our lives. In this week's reading, Cathy O'Neil explores the history of credit scores and the ways in which the sentiment of these processes have translated into our digital age. While those looking for a loan in the past would have to worry about local gossip or visible characteristics (race, gender, etc.), today's consumer has to worry about a company having access to their web browsing, purchasing patterns, or location. These data points are often used to assign individuals to roles and demographics that affect their ability to bank or get hired. In addition, these systems that we rely on are not foolproof, and they can be prone to mistakes that cost individuals important opportunities. 

Area 2:

   In reading this week's excerpt, I was very interested in the way that big data reflects antiquated operations of profiling individuals and putting them in a category. In a way, we are living in a time in which we sign up to be digitally profiled; it makes me think about the similarities between our obsession with big data and the social credit system of China. While it's easy to read articles about China's social credit system and think it is a bit extreme compared to us, we share a desire to automate the process of ranking ourselves in society. The biggest difference between our "data scores" and China's is that ours is managed by tech companies, while theirs is done through the government (which has its own set of implications).