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jem21's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
ohsarajay's review
4.0
Lots to think about! Chapter 3 on Coded Exposure is one of the best structured, thematically complex and still coherent scholarly arguments I've read in a while.
proftoddreads's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This book offers an important and timely exploration of what Benjamin dubs “The New Jim Code”, a development that “allows racist habits and logics to enter through the back door of tech design, in which the humans who create the algorithms are hidden from view.”
Benjamin shows numerous ways in which technological advances, even well-meaning ones, have society’s racial biases built into them. This is especially dangerous, as Benjamin shows, when we begin to view and employ technology as race neutral, as a means of eliminating human bias. In fact, Benjamin demonstrates, technology mirrors and reproduces the biases of those who create it.
Benjamin wants us to change the way we think about technology and AI, particularly how they can and will shape racial (in)equity in our society in the future. As she notes, every technological advancement has promised progress and equity, yet none have delivered. Benjamin asks us to change this pattern by revolutionizing the ways we create and consume technology.
Benjamin is thorough in both her explanations and examples, making this text incredibly informative and compelling. It’s fairly readable, although some of the evidence and data did bog down the narrative at times, and it’s well researched with ample footnotes and sources. While somewhat academic in format, even non-academics can and should read this.
Benjamin shows numerous ways in which technological advances, even well-meaning ones, have society’s racial biases built into them. This is especially dangerous, as Benjamin shows, when we begin to view and employ technology as race neutral, as a means of eliminating human bias. In fact, Benjamin demonstrates, technology mirrors and reproduces the biases of those who create it.
Benjamin wants us to change the way we think about technology and AI, particularly how they can and will shape racial (in)equity in our society in the future. As she notes, every technological advancement has promised progress and equity, yet none have delivered. Benjamin asks us to change this pattern by revolutionizing the ways we create and consume technology.
Benjamin is thorough in both her explanations and examples, making this text incredibly informative and compelling. It’s fairly readable, although some of the evidence and data did bog down the narrative at times, and it’s well researched with ample footnotes and sources. While somewhat academic in format, even non-academics can and should read this.
sara_shocks's review against another edition
4.0
I wish this had been a bit longer! Excellent examination of the relationships between racism and technology, and I particularly loved the "Coded Exposure" chapter.