How Algorithms Regulate Our Workplaces

Cathy O’Neil’s Post: The Role of Algorithms in Our Working Lives

Cathy O’Neil’s post discusses the circumstances around how algorithms play a major part in our day-to-day working lives. Several employers are now using mathematically modeled methods to sift through work applications. The human resources department is constantly using tools to sift through proposals and then pick and deny them based on algorithms. These algorithms are intended to filter applications objectively while still eliminating arbitrary human selection. This paper would concentrate on the three appeals used by Cathy O’Neil in her essay to persuade her readers to support her claims: ethos, pathos, and logos.

Appeal to Logos

First, O’Neil has made use of the allure of logos. She argues that algorithms are being utilized to determine how much we pay for insurance or our future terms of loans (O’Neil 6). Moreover, some algorithms are designed to discover the weather forecast after which a decision is made on the work schedule of several workforces, enabling them to strategize for schooling or childcare, as well as a second job.

Appeal to Ethos

The second appeal the author has utilized is the ethos. Nowadays, employers are turning job applications into a mathematical model shifting from the old model. The wrong choices have made employers result to poor verdict thus the poor people are punished. Algorithms can encode human prejudice even though it had good intentions to the people, misunderstanding and biases in the automatic system can lead to increased complaints about life management. Mathematically models are not transparent just like gods; they operate in an invisible state with the priests in the highest domain like computer scientists and mathematicians (O’Neil 4). They validate their logarithmic rule by declaring that working lives are past dispute or appeal thus their strict verdict.

Appeal to Pathos

Pathos is also an appeal that O’Neil has utilized. She claims that hiring business is becoming automated, and several of the new systems consist of online personality tests. That test grades people for openness to ideas, neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. The program can assist you to hire, screen and onboard applicants might end up being more productive. Also it assists an employer in obtaining suitable and long-lasting employees (O’Neil 7).

Despite the issues, algorithms have significantly assisted employers when it comes to the selection and hiring process. Also, it is preferred since it saves time.

Work Cited

O’Neil, Cathy. “How algorithms rule our working lives.” The Guardian, Sep. 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/01/how-algorithms-rule-our-working-lives. Accessed 8 Sep. 2017