55. How big tech and algorithms make us worse off

Dr. O’Neil earned her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and received her Ph.D. from Harvard in mathematics. She spent the early part of her career teaching at MIT and Barnard but eventually left for the private sector. After a few years as a finance professional, she eventually became disillusioned with the industry and would eventually join the Occupy Wall Street movement. She is a regular contributor to Bloomberg and is the author of "The Shame Machine," "Doing Data Science," and "Weapons of Math Destruction"; which all explore the negative impacts data analytics and algorithms have on society. Dr. O'Neil joined us in discussing how big data and the use of algorithms became more common in everyday life, how their use creates negative externalities with socioeconomic repercussions, and what caused her dislike of the finance industry.