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tuesday_evening's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
juliagp's review
5.0
Great read for anyone interested in understanding how current systems do not actually help the poor - even when put in place by a maybe-well-meaning group of people in government. Strong recommend for any lawyer, social worker or Democrat.
danicapage's review
5.0
This book is horrifying in its accuracy and a must read. I knew going into this book that I'd be left feeling pretty awful about the direction we're headed in it. And I was. We definitely need to make some changes and some changes fast.
The whole book was insightful and timely. One very apt quote: “Rational discrimination does not require class or racial hatred or even unconscious bias to operate. It only requires ignoring bias that already exists. When automated decision making tools are not built to explicitly dismantle structural inequities, their speed and scale intensify them.”
And like she says, once they are scaled up, they can be nearly impossible to dismantle or reverse course.
She speaks about the history of how we've profiled, policed, and punished the poor throughout history and how while it shifts tactics to keep up with the times, it hasn't changed. The same ideas prevail.
She specifically talks about the homelessness problem in LA and how they use a test in California to try to get the most at risk homeless people off the street but how the data they are collecting is comprehensive, insecure, and given to police without a warrant, how automation harmed families who needed medical help in Indiana, and a test they have implemented to decide which children are at risk for abuse in PA.
All three of which are horrifying, particularly the last one.
I learned a ton. I also think we need to realize that all of us are so close to being the poor and also the same tools that are harming the poor are harming us.
We need to make changes and make them quickly.
The whole book was insightful and timely. One very apt quote: “Rational discrimination does not require class or racial hatred or even unconscious bias to operate. It only requires ignoring bias that already exists. When automated decision making tools are not built to explicitly dismantle structural inequities, their speed and scale intensify them.”
And like she says, once they are scaled up, they can be nearly impossible to dismantle or reverse course.
She speaks about the history of how we've profiled, policed, and punished the poor throughout history and how while it shifts tactics to keep up with the times, it hasn't changed. The same ideas prevail.
She specifically talks about the homelessness problem in LA and how they use a test in California to try to get the most at risk homeless people off the street but how the data they are collecting is comprehensive, insecure, and given to police without a warrant, how automation harmed families who needed medical help in Indiana, and a test they have implemented to decide which children are at risk for abuse in PA.
All three of which are horrifying, particularly the last one.
I learned a ton. I also think we need to realize that all of us are so close to being the poor and also the same tools that are harming the poor are harming us.
We need to make changes and make them quickly.
shadowmaster13's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
5.0
A must read for anyone, programmers and non-programmers. The case study of automatically cutting people off benefits in Indiana unfortunately had a lot of resonance with the Australian "robo-debt" scandal.
cajunhusker's review
I had a solid 30 pages out of order, but it was otherwise good.