SERIOUS WONDER | Facial Recognition May Be Digital Telepathy Precursor

[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”0805083391″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KisFUjtoL._SL160_.jpg” width=”100″]There is a curious disorder affecting some people that renders them unable to recognize a face. After an initial meeting, the very next day, that same person will not be recognizable by just their face. This can be an occupational hazard for the likes of celebrities like Brad Pitt, who lives with this disability commonly known as prosopagnosia. People with this disorder are taught to focus more closely on other characteristics such as timbre and cadence of a person’s voice, or body size and shape. It’s not unlike how the blind must make other sensory adaptations to get by in a world that is increasingly visual. In fact, an Israeli firm has just developed a new mechanism called an OrCam that uses an eyeglass-mounted camera to convert the images and text to auditory responses for the user.

The concept of facial recognition for the sighted world brings an even broader technological challenge to culture. In particular, a perceived threat to personal privacy has become a widely discussed topic due to the whistle blowing of Edward Snowden and his revelations about the National Security Agency spying on private citizens. Yet, sci-fi movies such as the recently released Closed Circuit, dramatize a world of ever-increasing surveillance is at work and the message is clear that it’s not in favor of the individual.

Facebook has jumped on the facial recognition express train, immediately running into protests from users and scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission on whether its algorithms pose a violate of user privacy. In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was taken to the digital woodshed by critics for his presumptuous remarks on what he felt constituted the social norm with regards to user privacy.

“People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time. We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.”

The vitriol eventually simmered down and Zuckerberg’s observations don’t seem to carry that intense a sting just three years later. With increasing numbers of people now carrying smartphones with high resolution cameras, there is also “an app for that” for facial recognition though still targeted and generally priced towards business use. The curious digital recipe of facial recognition + GPS + smartphones does seem to imply that anyone, from your beau to your boss to your unseen dark overlord, can know where you are at any given moment. With the advent of Google Glass, there is, not surprisingly, push back on the app developers regarding restrictions on facial recognition technology. Then again, if it’s acceptable to put the same tech into an assistive device for the blind, why put informational blinders on the rest of us?

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[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B0013FRNKG” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41gtLiEuNdL._SL160_.jpg” width=”126″]FUTURE IMPLICATIONS :

For just a moment, imagine a world with less cause for fear and distrust. Technology that helps you better recognize your world, in all its varied nuances, can only be a good thing for the evolution of our species. We are naturally moving towards a state of cultural transparency as the restrictions that once sent people to the flames or dungeons fell away to mere social taboos. Those too will give way to a culture which will, in its pre-telepathic stages, need the assistance of technology to help navigate an ever more complex world. The isolating characteristics commonly associated with social networking will become irrelevant once we stop holding our cards so close; typically, out of a fear that we will be judged and diminished by this information. Ultimately, our evolution depends on us being able to authentically look at each other and fearlessly declare, “I see you” and mean it.

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Image Source: Flickr

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