In this assignment, you are tasked with reading and reflecting on a chapter out of the book “Weapons of Math Destruction” by Cathy O’Neil. The chapter is titled Bomb Parts – What is a Model? and it gives an introduction of what it means to think like a data scientist. The chapter also describes the nature of the models that are behind the predictive algorithms powering the technologies all around us.
Throughout the chapter, the author uses the acronym “WMD” which stands for “Weapon of Math Destruction,” a term she coined to describe harmful and predatory algorithms.
Who are the paper’s primary authors?
Cathy O’Neil, PhD
“Cathy O’Neil earned a Ph.D. in math from Harvard, was a postdoc at the MIT math department, and a professor at Barnard College where she published a number of research papers in arithmetic algebraic geometry. She then switched over to the private sector, working as a quant for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw in the middle of the credit crisis, and then for RiskMetrics, a risk software company that assesses risk for the holdings of hedge funds and banks. She left finance in 2011 and started working as a data scientist in the New York start-up scene, building models that predicted people’s purchases and clicks. She wrote Doing Data Science in 2013 and launched the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia in 2014. She is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View and wrote the book Weapons of Math Destruction: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. She recently founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company.” Link to Cathy O’Neil’s homepage.
Where should you ask questions on readings?
Is there a term or concept used in the paper that you’re confused by? Please email me (Kaki) and I will get back to you!
Any questions asked on readings in office hours, oustide of logistical questions, will be redirected to Kaki
Read the Paper, Reflect, and Respond
The entire book is available through the UNC library. Here is a link that should take you directly to chapter 1: https://auth.lib.unc.edu/ezproxy_auth.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1109940&site=ehost-live&ebv=EK&ppid=Page-__-16. You will be prompted to sign in with your ONYEN. Let Kaki know if you run into any issues!
If that link doesn’t work or says the ebook is already in use, try clicking “EPUB Full Text” on the left hand side once you sign in, and then navigating to chapter 1.
You will find the assignment “Reading 02 - WOMD CH. 1” on Gradescope. There are 8 possible prompts and you are asked to respond to any 2 prompts that you would prefer. Your responses should be short essays with a minimum word count of 200 words. For the prompts, rubrics, and other instructions please refer to the assignment on Gradescope.