[I am always suspicious when these academics in the USA get so flustered over things like race. For example, hasn't everyone been talking about predicting the actions of WHITES in order to prevent whites going out and shooting someone? Yet, the moment when the same or similar methods are used to predict black crime, then suddenly, it is "racist" and needs to be stopped. The fact that Mathematicians are boycotting this just blows me away. What nonsense. I have lost so much respect for US academics when it gets to politics… it's insane. They need to get a grip on reality. Notice also how many academics and scientists are white women, and these stupid white women are working against our race. This is a problem. I've seen this before. We need white male leadership again. White women are easily swayed by idiotic emotional arguments. I've seen this over and over again. This is dreadful.  Jan]

Mathematicians at universities across the country are halting collaborations with police departments across the U.S.

A June 15 letter was sent to the trade journal Notices of the American Mathematical Society, announcing the boycott.

Typically, mathematicians work with police departments to build algorithms, conduct modeling work, and analyze data.

Several prominent academic mathematicians want to sever ties with police departments across the U.S., according to a letter submitted to Notices of the American Mathematical Society on June 15. The letter arrived weeks after widespread protests against police brutality, and has inspired over 1,500 other researchers to join the boycott.

These mathematicians are urging fellow researchers to stop all work related to predictive policing software, which broadly includes any data analytics tools that use historical data to help forecast future crime, potential offenders, and victims. The technology is supposed to use probability to help police departments tailor their neighborhood coverage so it puts officers in the right place at the right time.

Lawmakers Want To Stop Militarizing the Police
"Given the structural racism and brutality in U.S. policing, we do not believe that mathematicians should be collaborating with police departments in this manner," the authors write in the letter. "It is simply too easy to create a ‘scientific’ veneer for racism. Please join us in committing to not collaborating with police. It is, at this moment, the very least we can do as a community."

Some of the mathematicians include Cathy O’Neil, author of the popular book Weapons of Math Destruction, which outlines the very algorithmic bias that the letter rallies against. There’s also Federico Ardila, a Colombian mathematician currently teaching at San Francisco State University, who is known for his work to diversify the field of mathematics.

You can read the rest of this long article here: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a32957375/mathematicians-boycott-predictive-policing/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_pop&utm_medium=email&date=072220&utm_campaign=nl20930195&src=nl