Short episodes exploring data science ethics in the news
Episode 21: Differential Pricing in Opaque Markets – Show Notes Why do some people pay $120 and others pay $650 for a seat on the same airplane? Or the same car insurance policy? Differential pricing is everywhere but it is especially prevalent in opaque, algorithm-driven markets. Is it fair to charge differently for different people? […]
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Episode 20: Price Discrimination in Retail – Show Notes Price discrimination is when companies show different prices to different customers based on what each customer is willing to pay. For many retailers, that means gathering data and creating algorithms that predict what a customer will spend on each item. Is it fair to force customers […]
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Episode 17: Daylight Savings Time and Confirmation Bias – Show Notes This episode was inspired by a clear lack of sleep. Today, we are discussing confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when people seek out only the evidence that supports their point of view while dismissing contrary evidence. An example might be a smoker highlighting a […]
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Episode 16: The Moral Machine – Show Notes MIT conducted a long-term study called the Moral Machine that spanned the globe. It posed seemingly-simply questions about what a driverless car should do. These were variations on the trolley problem – a classic ethical dilemma about whether the driver of a runaway trolley should avoid striking […]
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Episode 15: Transparency and Reputational Risk – Show Notes Between the mortgage crisis, Madoff Scandall, and Wells Fargo’s fraudulent account openings, banks have had a rough go of it. They have become increasingly aware and sensitive to the effects of reputational risk. To counter these possible problems, many banks have implemented more stringent policies for […]
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Episode 14: Ethical Obligations of a Data Translator – Show Notes Data Translator is a new title coming up in the business world over the last few years. This role is an intermediary between those requesting data science work and the data scientists. It’s sort of like a business analyst but for analytics projects. To […]
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Episode 13: All Warmed Up with the Strava Heatmap – Show Notes Many people, civilians and military personnel alike, use fitness trackers every day to keep tabs on their health. They track everything from steps to heart rate to sleep cycles. With some manual input, they can also balance other aspects of personal health and […]
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Episode 12: Blockchain Gives Us Hope – Show Notes In our last episode on Deepfake, we mentioned blockchain as a possible solution for identifying authentic versus altered audio and video. In today’s episode, we look at a number of ways that blockchain can and is already providing positive impact in the world. In addition to its […]
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Episode 11: Deepfake – Show Notes Deepfake is the process of using computer vision to generate realistic fake audio or video where a performance from one person appears to be coming from another. This technology, once the brainchild of academia, was taken into the corporate world to help make image and audio editing more efficient. […]
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Episode 8: Love Ahoy! How OKCupid Tested Anchoring Bias – Show Notes In 2014, OKCupid revealed they had conducted an experiment to test the effects of showing false compatibility rates to users. The experiment was designed to test whether their algorithm was truly generating more meaningful conversations. There were two stages of the experiment. First, […]
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