The subtitle of this book, How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy really says it all. Big data has come into our lives in numerous ways, and many of them are a scourge on our lives. Big data, in and of itself, is not to blame, but the uses to which it is put are often outrageous. Take the case of automated teacher evaluations. These are often based on the improvement of students' scores. It seems like a no-brainer, and since the scores take into account the improvement rather than the absolute scores, they seem to be very fair. However, one New York teacher received an abysmal score of 6 (out of 100) one year, and the following year received a wonderful score of 96. Obviously the teacher did not suddenly improve his teaching methods.
