Episode 86: A Face For Podcasting

Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent study that examines the facial features that people perceive as "smart," "dorky," "trustworthy," or a number of other traits. The study quickly captured a lot of attention, eliciting both fascination and anger. The cohosts turn to Twitter, and to Alexa's undergraduate students, to attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the criticisms and suspicions expressed about the work. In the process, they consider whether glasses make you look smart, and whether babies can be trusted.

Sponsored By:

• FindingFive: Link and promo code for users in the European Union Promo Code: FF-EU-2P4B
• FindingFive: FindingFive is a non-profit web platform where academic researchers can create and run online behavioral research studies in the cloud. Promo Code: FF-US-2P4B

Links:

• Two Psychologists F. on Untappd
• Deep models of superficial face judgments | PNAS
• Abeba Birhane on Twitter: ""trustworthy", "smart" & "privilege" are not things that can be read off faces. this is nothing but a form of machine aided phsygnomy that will be used for insidious purposes which will end up harming those that don't fit social and historical stereotypes" / Twitter
• Tim Maughan on Twitter: "fuck you and fuck your digital calliper skull measuring snake oil bullshit" / Twitter
• Yoel Inbar on Twitter: "I'd be very interested in the strong argument against this kind of research (ideally including readings). I see a lot of moral outrage in the replies/quote tweets but I would like to know more about why. As an outsider it seems sort of baffling." / Twitter
• joseph osmundson (all pronouns) on Twitter: "@yorl There are literally entire libraries on this, Jesus." / Twitter
• The Data Therapist on Twitter: "I like this question. Baffled by all the outrage around AI ethics? Would like to form your own opinion but not sure how to start thinking about it? Here’s my 3 minute tweetorial / lay of the land: #ethnlp #AIEthics #EthicalAI" / Twitter
• The ethical questions that haunt facial-recognition research
• Physiognomy’s New Clothes. by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Margaret… | by Blaise Aguera y Arcas | Medium
• Black racial phenotypicality shapes social pain and support judgments
• I've Just Seen a Face - The Beatles (Cover) - YouTube