Putting Math in its Place A Review of Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Abstract

With its bright yellow cover and its ominous title, this book attracts attention. The subtitle, “How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy” signals very strongly that the “math” in question in the title is primarily that which relates to the statistical and computational means of collecting, analysing and using data. For some readers, the title might be surprising, because it challenges the typical understanding of mathematics as an objective and value-neutral discipline. Worse, it claims that mathematics is significantly involved in creating inequality and compromising democracy. If it is true, then the answer to the perennial student question, “when am I ever going to use this?” has now become, “when will it use you?”