"mathwash" meaning in All languages combined

See mathwash on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: mathwashes [present, singular, third-person], mathwashing [participle, present], mathwashed [participle, past], mathwashed [past]
Etymology: From math + -wash. Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 (see quotation below). Etymology templates: {{af|en|math|-wash}} math + -wash, {{coinage|en|Fred Benenson|in=2016|w=-}} Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 Head templates: {{en-verb}} mathwash (third-person singular simple present mathwashes, present participle mathwashing, simple past and past participle mathwashed)
  1. (intransitive, transitive, neologism) To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively. Tags: intransitive, neologism, transitive Derived forms: mathwashing [noun]

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for mathwash meaning in All languages combined (3.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "math",
        "3": "-wash"
      },
      "expansion": "math + -wash",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Fred Benenson",
        "in": "2016",
        "w": "-"
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      "expansion": "Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016",
      "name": "coinage"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From math + -wash. Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 (see quotation below).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mathwashes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "mathwashing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "mathwashed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "mathwashed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mathwash (third-person singular simple present mathwashes, present participle mathwashing, simple past and past participle mathwashed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English neologisms",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -wash",
          "parents": [],
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      "derived": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "noun"
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          "word": "mathwashing"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 May 9, @fredbenenson, Twitter, archived from the original on 2024-04-23",
          "text": "The issue is definitional: \"algorithm\" has been used to mathwash functionality that would otherwise be considered arbitrary with objectivity",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 January 1, Mike Loukides, “The problem with building a \"fair\" system”, in O'Reilly Radar, archived from the original on 2023-06-04",
          "text": "While our systems can be assistants or even collaborators, we do not want to hand off responsibility to them. When we treat machine learning systems as oracles, rather than as assistants, we are headed in the wrong direction. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that a decision is fair because it is algorithmic. We can't afford to \"mathwash\" important decisions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 January 29, Sophie Kleber, “As AI Meets the Reputation Economy, We're All Being Silently Judged”, in Harvard Business Review, Brighton, M.A.: Harvard Business Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-28",
          "text": "Deliberate mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is tweaked in order to course correct or skew the bias. Facebook allegedly mathwashed when it routinely suppressed conservative news in 2016.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 January 29, Nantina Vgontzas, Meredith Whittaker, “These Machines Won't Kill Fascism: Toward a Militant Progressive Vision for Tech”, in The Nation, new York, N.Y.: The Nation Company, L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-03-29",
          "text": "Striking Instacart workers have also opposed the company's \"black box\" app, which sets workers' pay via an unintelligible model that \"mathwashes\" their exploitation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively."
      ],
      "id": "en-mathwash-en-verb-I-24cIN-",
      "links": [
        [
          "data",
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        ],
        [
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        ],
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        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "policy",
          "policy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "objectively",
          "objectively#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, transitive, neologism) To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "neologism",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "mathwash"
}
{
  "derived": [
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      "tags": [
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    }
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "name": "af"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From math + -wash. Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 (see quotation below).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mathwashes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "mathwashing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    {
      "form": "mathwashed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "mathwashed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mathwash (third-person singular simple present mathwashes, present participle mathwashing, simple past and past participle mathwashed)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coinages",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English neologisms",
        "English terms coined by Fred Benenson",
        "English terms suffixed with -wash",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 May 9, @fredbenenson, Twitter, archived from the original on 2024-04-23",
          "text": "The issue is definitional: \"algorithm\" has been used to mathwash functionality that would otherwise be considered arbitrary with objectivity",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 January 1, Mike Loukides, “The problem with building a \"fair\" system”, in O'Reilly Radar, archived from the original on 2023-06-04",
          "text": "While our systems can be assistants or even collaborators, we do not want to hand off responsibility to them. When we treat machine learning systems as oracles, rather than as assistants, we are headed in the wrong direction. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that a decision is fair because it is algorithmic. We can't afford to \"mathwash\" important decisions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 January 29, Sophie Kleber, “As AI Meets the Reputation Economy, We're All Being Silently Judged”, in Harvard Business Review, Brighton, M.A.: Harvard Business Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-28",
          "text": "Deliberate mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is tweaked in order to course correct or skew the bias. Facebook allegedly mathwashed when it routinely suppressed conservative news in 2016.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 January 29, Nantina Vgontzas, Meredith Whittaker, “These Machines Won't Kill Fascism: Toward a Militant Progressive Vision for Tech”, in The Nation, new York, N.Y.: The Nation Company, L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-03-29",
          "text": "Striking Instacart workers have also opposed the company's \"black box\" app, which sets workers' pay via an unintelligible model that \"mathwashes\" their exploitation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "data",
          "data#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "algorithms",
          "algorithm#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "subjective",
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        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "policy",
          "policy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "objectively",
          "objectively#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, transitive, neologism) To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "neologism",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "mathwash"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (e9e0a99 and db5a844). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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