Interview on \u3cem\u3eThe Black Box Society\u3c/em\u3e

Hidden algorithms drive decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms. Thanks to automation, those firms can approve credit, rank websites, and make myriad other decisions instantaneously. But what are the costs of their methods? And what exactly are they doing with their digital profiles of us? Leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on corporate surveillance and the automated judgments it enables. Self-serving and reckless behavior is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of troublingly monopolistic and exploitative practices. Drawing on the work of social scientists, attorneys, and technologists, The Black Box Society offers a bold new account of the political economy of big data. Data-driven corporations play an ever larger role in determining opportunity and risk. But they depend on automated judgments that may be wrong, biased, or destructive. Their black boxes endanger all of us. Faulty data, invalid assumptions, and defective models can’t be corrected when they are hidden. Frank Pasquale exposes how powerful interests abuse secrecy for profit and explains ways to rein them in. Demanding transparency is only the first step. An intelligible society would assure that key decisions of its most important firms are fair, nondiscriminatory, and open to criticism. Silicon Valley and Wall Street need to accept as much accountability as they impose on others. In this interview with Lawrence Joseph, Frank Pasquale describes the aims and methods of the book

Posterior Cervical Spine Crisscross Fixation: Biomechanical Evaluation

Background Biomechanical/anatomic limitations may limit the successful implantation, maintenance, and risk acceptance of posterior cervical plate/rod fixation for one stage decompression-fusion. A method of posterior fixation (crisscross) that resolves biomechanical deficiencies of previous facet wiring techniques and not reliant upon screw implantation has been devised. The biomechanical performance of the new method of facet fixation was compared to the traditional lateral mass plate/screw fixation method. Methods Thirteen human cadaver spine segments (C2-T1) were tested under flexion-compression loading and four were evaluated additionally under pure-moment load. Preparations were evaluated in a sequence of surgical alterations with intact, laminectomy, lateral mass plate/screw fixation, and crisscross facet fixation using forces, displacements and kinematics. Findings Combined loading demonstrated significantly lower bending stiffness (p \u3c 0.05) between laminectomy compared to crisscross and lateral mass plate/screw preparations. Crisscross fixation showed a comparative tendency for increased stiffness. The increased overall motion induced by laminectomy was resolved by both fixation techniques, with crisscross fixation demonstrating a comparatively more uniform change in segmental motions. Interpretation The crisscross technique of facet fixation offers immediate mechanical stability with resolution of increased flexural rotations induced by multi-level laminectomy. Many of the anatomic limitations and potentially deleterious variables that may be associated with multi-level screw fixation are not associated with facet wire passage, and the subsequent fixation using a pattern of wire connection crossing each facet joint exhibits a comparatively more uniform load distribution. Crisscross wire fixation is a valuable addition to the surgical armamentarium for extensive posterior cervical single-stage decompression-fixation