Justice in the Age of Big Data

In Cathy O’Neil’s book Weapons of Math Destruction she talks about how WMD’s are used to keep people working low wage jobs from ever going up in the ladder and also making the companies more money. These numbers came from OR’s (Operations Research). These numbers were developed during world war two to help the US keep the Japanese ships from receiving any supplies. These numbers grew when Japanese car companies used them to get the parts they needed delivered “On Time” instead of storying them on sight and paying for that. That is what started scheduling software comes from. Says that it’s more beneficial to have people close the store then turn around and open it again. Says that it will save the company money in the long run. Everything these numbers say are great at making the companies more money, Keeping employees under 30 hours a week to not pay them health insurance. These are all great ways to save them money but It creates a bad working environment for the employees. They already are getting minimum wage and work long hours to not be able to also work and go to school. This is the terrible cycle that keeps the people working these jobs from being able to climb up the ladder and get better jobs. I have worked in the food industry before and because I was only part time this was not the case for me but some people I worked with have been working in the same place for over 10 years. They were doing the same thing they were doing since they started and with no hope of moving up or going on to anything bigger or better.