I would argue that one of the major problems with our blind trust in algorithms is that we can propagate discriminatory patterns without acknowledging any kind of intent.

Occupy provided me a lens through which to see systemic discrimination.

Especially from my experience as a quant in a hedge fund - I naively went in there thinking that I would be making the market more efficient and then was like, oh my God, I'm part of this terrible system that is blowing up the world's economy, and I don't want to be a part of that.

We don't let a car company just throw out a car and start driving it around without checking that the wheels are fastened on. We know that would result in death; but for some reason we have no hesitation at throwing out some algorithms untested and unmonitored even when they're making very important life-and-death decisions.

For whatever reason, I have never separated the technical from the ethical.

I think big data companies only like good news. So I think they're just hoping that they don't get sued, essentially.

We can't just throw something out there and assume it works just because it has math in it.