This week we review "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil. From terrible teacher evaluations to dodgy credit decisions, algorithms make plenty of mistakes - but are they really worse than the alternative? Timestamps:0:23 - Three traits of a bad model1:48 - Terrible teacher evaluations6:50 - Personality tests and hiring11:50 - Bad algorithms disproportionately hurt the poor15:45 - Clopening and schedule optimization18:19 - Life before algorithms: redlining25:11 - Limits to model accuracy26:21 - The rigor of sports analytics is not a panacea28:07 - Predictions vs. privacy32:37 - The stop and frisk analogy35:35 - China's social credit system and research ethics

Check out Random Talkers on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/RandomTalkers

Consider buying us a coffee (all donations go to better mics):https://www.buymeacoffee.com/randomtalkers