Slashdot Mirror
Virtual Reality Experiment Wants To Put White People In Black Bodies
Molly McHugh (3774987) writes with an intriguing use of VR technology: "It's as simple as making a light-skinned person feel connected to a virtual, darker skinned self—a thought experiment pretty much impossible without the immersive potency of VR. The effect is achieved by outfitting participants in VR headsets with built-in head-tracking and motion capture capabilities that sync actual movement to virtual experience." From the article: Evolving from cruder methods, VR is a natural extension of research examining the ways that people think differently when made to feel like they are part of a meaningfully different social group, known as an outgroup.
... What’s most exciting about this channel of research is that it gets at the kind of complex, subtle prejudices that most people can’t even articulate if asked directly.
Barack Obama.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
My Dayz avatar is black. Does that count?
What is a white man to do in a virtual black mans body in the zombie apocalypse? I killed my white friend on accident with a shotgun to the back of the head. I promise the virtual color of our skin was not a factor in his accidental death.
white people in black bodies don't commit as much crime...
Seems rather biased to think that only white people can have racial biases.
". Whatâ(TM)s most exciting about this channel of research is that it gets at the kind of complex, subtle prejudices that most people canâ(TM)t even articulate if asked directly."
This is sort of MMO old news. Any MMO with sufficient character customization options will let you create a black (human) or female avatar.
And anyone whose 'gender-bended' or 'race-bended' can tell you all kinds of ways they were subtly treated differently as a result.
Just an observation. I'm not saying this research is worthless or anything. Its an interesting avenue of study.
I've an easier method. Adopt an African American Child. I did and my view on many social issues pretty much changed overnight.
You tell your kids not to go to Chicago because of the crime, I tell mine not to go because of the police. I don't need a VR headset to see that reality.
Why do I think "Star-bellied Sneetch"?
Dog is my co-pilot.
Try playing an MMO as a female or a strange race nobody likes. This is nothing new or groundbreaking. Plus the VR graphics are so terrible that it just looks ridicules.
Will I finally be able to dance?
OK, I lied; I do have another question. But I'm going to refrain...
Dark Reflection
Why just black. Why not brown, red, or yellow.
I lived in India for several months, I know what it's like to walk into a restaurant and have 20 pairs of eyes watch every move I make. I'm sure someone from Mexico or Senegal would experience the same thing.
I know people of all skin colors that have lived among other people of different skin colors and I've heard plenty of stories to tell of ignorant people making rash judgements. I've heard people from India say racist things about people with dark skin, and I've heard people with dark skin say racist things about people with lighter skin. I know a white person that was stopped by a cop in a neighborhood where people with browner skin colors predominately live. He didn't complain about 'walking while white'.
I'm sure that no matter where someone goes in this world, people with a skin color or any other attribute that is in the minority are viewed differently from people in the majority. What makes some people think they are experiencing something no one else in the world experiences or can understand? Or that only white people don't get it? Why was it in college that groups of people with similar attributes (i.e. ethnic background, religion, political leanings) all tended to group together and often made fun of everyone not like them.
A good step in getting rid of racists attitudes is to ignore the morons who are racist and stop letting them interfere with our lives. Generalizing the attitudes and behaviors of an entire group of people just because of the traits of a small minority is prejudice.
No matter what your skin color is.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Can I expect a black guy in a virtual white cop's simulation to shoot me as I experience being a black dude in same simulation?
I am pretty damned tired of being presumed a racist because of the pallor of my skin.
I'm fucking sick and tired of this incessant cry of racism every time something goes wrong for minorities.
And I'm really fucking sick and tired of this whole racism issue being treated like some kind of thing you have to get fully on board with, show you care, say the right things, etc or you are somehow supporting racism. Progressives shit a brick when people started wearing American Flags on their lapels to "show" their patriotism. But they have no problem brow beating people into participating in shit to "voice their opposition" to racism.
And I am absolutely, positively, fucking sick and tired of morons using terms like "feel connected", "subtle prejudices", "meaningfully different social group". Gawd! Fuck you, you stupid metro-sexual assholes.
Fuck you. I'm not a racist, but I'm not wearing your damned ribbons or signing up for you dumbass sensitivity classes or anything else. I treat everybody with respect and expect the same in return.
Are you putting this forth as evidence you're an expert on racism? Really?
That's kind of like me saying "I know the struggles of blacks, because I own a Public Enemy album".
Seriously, WTF??? What the hell does playing a video game have to do with anything?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I can suggest a cheaper, significantly more effective way: full body henna tattoo.
There is no physical discomfort for the user; they can wear the same clothing, perform their usual activities in real-world scenarios, and their sensations are not altered. The same cannot be said with VR gear.
The effect would be immediate, and while not permanent, the user cannot stop participation because of some slight discomfort: they'd have to live the life of a non-white person for several weeks. You're not going to get the same kind of emotional reactions unless participants are all-in, and some reactions are going to take time to develop after the initial shock.
eskwayrd = m^2c^4
In my skyrim playthrough I chose "Dark Elf" because it sounded cool. Only problem is, the dark elves have little representation throughout Skyrim and most groups are prejudiced against them. Everywhere I went was a bunch of racist Nords and asshole Thalmor
Pretty quickly I came to the opinion that the main factions were a bunch of racist assholes and I had no horse in their race (a metaphor for real elections), and really just hoped for as bloody a battle as possible between them both.
After a while I started to identify with that part of the character, to the point that it did effect the choices I made in the game. It really is a powerful disincentive to know you are dealing with someone who sees you right off the bad as not their equal.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
The major complaint black people have is that, they are being treated differently by white people, cops especially. Unless you simulate other people seeing you as black, it might not help that much.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
>Seriously, WTF??? What the hell does playing a video game have to do with anything?
"Virtual Reality Experiment Wants To Put White People In Black Bodies"
Journalist took this drug than made your skin dark and wrote a best-seller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Like_Me) of his experiences. I remember the book influencing the civil rights debate.
So there should be a fundemental research question that this research will answer, what exactly is that question?
"What’s most exciting about this channel of research is that it gets at the kind of complex, subtle prejudices that most people can’t even articulate if asked directly."
in other words...
They are going to try to find racism where none actually exists and then call white people racist.
Imaginary reality to "prove" imaginary racism. How fitting...
Hint: it ain't the skin-color. If "whitey" really were racist, Asians would've suffered from it too. But they are doing rather well. So well, in fact, that schools and colleges alike deduct points from applicants, who identify themselves as "Asians".
The most likely explanation is single-parenthood rate: children growing up with only a mother (which is still the overwhelming majority of single-"parent" households) are much likelier to grow up with problems live sucky lives — all human civilizations knew this and frowned upon unwed mothers. Not because "sex is a sin", as is the common Illiberal's strawman, but because bringing a child into this world without a loving father is a sin... Heck, we know it too!
For some reason, currently 67% of Black kids grow up in such families — compared with merely 17% of Asians and 25% of Whites... But only the KKKonservative Libertarians connect the dots.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The easiest method would blackface but that hasn't been kosher since Silver Streak ...
(captcha: victim)
Yeah, it would be interesting to see what happens if the residents of Gaza were turned into civilized people who were industrious and turned Gaza into an economically prosperous beachfront resort and started winning Nobel Prizes, just like regular Israel.
It would be a bit of a change from murdering their own children to dig tunnels underneath their neighbors for the sole purposes of indiscriminately murdering people they've never met.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
See, this is exactly the sort of thing that Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have been warning us all about. First of all you try and simulate reality. Then your program gets smart enough that it starts to formulate desires. Next thing you know it wants to experiment with brain transplants and bioengineering techniques. Before you know it...
Wait ... what's that, you say? The headline should read "Virtual Reality experimenters want to give white users black avatars?"
Why didn't they say that in the first place?
Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
Really? Really?! We need a VR SIMULATOR to understand what it's like to be black in America??!
How about you TALK to your black neighbors? Is making a computer simulation somehow easier than listening to another person explain how life is like for them? NO WONDER things are the way they are.
I'm not black I'm a dark elf.
As far as the morally superiority that would be the Baby Boomers in the 60's. Considerably earlier than even Space Invaders. Of course the Boomer's moral superiority has done nothing but cause problems. Cant' wait to see what damage the Millennials does in another 10-20 years.
We used to think only White people are racist, but now we know better.
Yeah, it would be interesting to see what happens if the residents of Gaza were turned into civilized people who were industrious and turned Gaza into an economically prosperous beachfront resort and started winning Nobel Prizes, just like regular Israel.
It would be a bit of a change from murdering their own children to dig tunnels underneath their neighbors for the sole purposes of indiscriminately murdering people they've never met.
The Israelites don't have to do that because they have an American backed and supplied military to do that for them.
But I can't. I just can't. This is fucking retarded. I'm embarrassed of a society where an idea like this gets any traction at all.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Admit it. You just want to look down and see tits.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Are you putting this forth as evidence you're an expert on racism? Really?
Reading is hard. You couldn't even finish the sentence and address the POINT of the sentence.
But you do OUTRAGE really well, so maybe you're a racism expert.
Bullshit. These guys need to read Black Like Me . And then try it out for themselves.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Body paint is cheaper and works better.
What's your point again?
So your solution to racism is to pretend it doesn't exist? Great logic.
I know millennials think they are the first generation that is morally superior and have the answers to everything. But I was playing Mike Tyson's Punch out when your parents were still wearing Zooba's. Not everyone is the racist.
Punch out was a hoot. Only game that was ever fun to play with the power glove.
If they drink tea they are just British.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Literally.
lose != loose
http://www.comics.org/issue/23...
- Mike
"Virtual Reality Experiment Wants To Put White People In Black Bodies"
You play as Little Mac, a white dude. You fight Tyson at the end.
As a guy, I'm not sure watching a bunch of guys looking at me would be all that fun.
Do you think they'll be able to give us just certain parts of black bodies?
Asking for a friend.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Black Like Me was a really good read. Well worth the time, although I imagine it's pretty dated by now.
From wikipedia:
"Black Like Me is a nonfiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Dallas, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses (occasionally hitchhiking) throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia passing as a black man. Sepia Magazine financed the project in exchange for the right to print the account first as a series of articles.
Griffin kept a journal of his experiences; the 188-page diary was the genesis of the book.
At the time of the book's writing in 1959, race relations in America were particularly strained and Griffin aimed to explain the difficulties that black people faced in certain areas. Under the care of a doctor, Griffin artificially darkened his skin to pass as a black man."
They did this on a TV show before, was somewhat interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....
s/©//g
I've traveled to Asia 4 times and have visited areas that get very few foreigners. I get the stares, sometimes no one will sit next to me on the train, once I was even denied an advertisement being handed out on the street when the woman looked up and saw me.
People who are different attract attention. It's a natural human reaction. I've never been insulted (to my face) and I take as many precautions as I can to do what is socially acceptable.
P.S. - If you want a unique experience, be the only white guy at a Japanese onsen.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
They should issue the VR goggles to the cops an make white people look black.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Won't that cause lots of radiation?
Isn't this, more or less, the concept of the movie Surrogates?
antipaucity
I know millennials think they are the first generation that is morally superior and have the answers to everything."
Every generation thinks they're superior,
And the previous and next are inferior,
But no matter your exterior,
We have the same interior,
So the Kruger-Dunning Effect bites your posterior.
Burma Shave
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Maybe we could all pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and:
Acknowledge that while racism does still exist, society is doing pretty good when you need clever experiments and (in this case) advanced technology to be able to measure it objectively.
The glass is half full.
If they got to temporarily experience being black, I suspect the thing most white men would most remember is how much blatant racism and sexism black people actually have and get away with.
>"It's as simple as making a light-skinned person feel connected to a virtual, darker skinned self"
Except it is far less about skin color than speech, beliefs, attitude, clothing, how one acts, who one associates with, etc, etc. Race issues are rarely just about skin color... that is WAY oversimplifying the whole topic. Just slapping on a different color might change the way many people initially treat or interact with you, but far too many people point to that as being the main problem, when it has more to do with other factors. Still, it sounds like a good experiment to teach tolerance and remind people that you can't judge a book by its cover (you might have some notions, but should always keep an open mind).
French television made a more thorough experiment that can be watched as a 3-hour documentary on Youtube. They used all the tricks available to film to turn a black family living in Paris into a convincing white one and vice versa. This is worth watching even if you don't understand French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... ("Dans la peau d'un noir").
Let's not overlook Eddie Murphy's courageous journey in the other direction, White Like Me.
Years ago I heard about how a journalist actually followed up on Griffin and spoke with some of the people he lived among in his new racial identity; apparently the common reaction was to laugh uproariously behind his back at this crazy honky. Can't find anything about this now though. Maybe it's an urban legend?
It's far easier to just have the cops shoot the white people, too. Then they'll know what it's like to be a "person of colour." :(
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I lived in an apartment building where kids used to baseball bat and cinder block cars in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. I was talking to a Waterloo Regional Police "Service" constable about my neighbor's car having a cinder block put through the windshield. I giving a description mentioned he was black, The constable said and I quote " A black man with a BMW he must be a drug dealer". Unfortunately the mostly white Police Services in Canada have a similar view. Racism does exist, White people are the ones in power, and they abuse black and native people every chance they get. I have never heard a Police office use the word Honkey, But the N word is very much in the vernacular in the Waterloo Regional Police Service when describing a black suspect.
I am white, I was raised in a 21 foot trailer in a community so small we counted the cows as people for the population sign. When I needed to use the bathroom I had to walk 50 feet into the woods to use the outhouse in 3 feet of snow. When I peed into the abyss I heard it tinkle as it had frozen before it hit the ice on the bottom. I grew up hearing one of my uncles referring to black people as coons and other terms I would never mention. Luckily most of the people I grew up with did not really give a **** about color. I was the definition of a backwoods redneck and I am eefing ashamed about how the Canadian police, Justice System, School Systems, Community Resources, Hospitals, Government, and Professional White people treat minorities especially Native and Black people in North America.
I am Transgender and as bad as I have it somedays i can say without a doubt I am still treated for the most part better than black and native people. Someone asked me once what could be worse than being transgender and I said being black and transgender in this effing country of effing bigots.
To err is to be human, to really screw up takes a computer and a human.
He sees Asians doing "so well" and concludes that it must be some unfair racial advantage that is starting to backfire on them - so it is perfectly acceptable if they get deducted points for identifying as "Asian".
See... It's one of those "positive racial things"... Like all blacks having big cocks, all Asian women being sexy... Or was that Latinas? Indian women? Swedish? I get confused about that topic...
Anyway... It's not suffering but a GIFT OF NATURE.
Or Santa or whatever...
His cognitive dissonance is so deep in, he doesn't even realize that he's using an example of discrimination based on racial prejudice - as an example of how "well" a certain minority is doing.
"They are doing so well by simply being Asian, that schools are forced to discriminate against them."
See, if you're lucky enough to be born Asian - you're automagically gonna do SO WELL in school some handicaps will simply be fair, to make you more like everyone else.
I have this nagging feeling that he's also a fan of Harrison Bergeron, and that the irony of acceptable handicaps for perceived and prejudiced advantages is lost on him.
Cause apparently in his mind, it is "the system", not the people who make it, that is racist.
And there are "real racism" and "imaginary racism" and "pretend anti-racism" in that "system".
It's you know... like a plan. There are these rules about what is real, imaginary and pretend.
Secret rules of the "system". Which pretends about using one set of rules, but is actually using another.
A conspiracy, if you will.
But you gotta love that cognitive dissonance of his.
They do not, however, show any of the symptoms, for which the imaginary racism is usually blamed when failures of Blacks are discussed: they are not incarcerated disproportionally more often than others (heck, you can't even find them on the chart!) and their incomes aren't lower than those of Whites â" quite the opposite, in fact
"incarcerated disproportionally more often than others" is imaginary racism - because failures of Blacks.
When it's BLACK people who are "incarcerated disproportionally more often than others" - it is imaginary racism, cause Blacks SIMPLY ARE MORE PRONE TO CRIME.
It's their failure as a race.
And can't you see that it's actually the whites who are discriminated?
Just look at that median household income sorted by race - where "White Hispanics" are a part of white Americans group, and "Asians" are generalizing "Chinese", "Filipino", "Indian", "Vietnamese", "Korean", "Japanese" and "other Asians" into one group.
So, whites become poor cause Mexicans and Puerto Ricans and Cubans etc. (all well below the "white" median) are bunched together with Russians and Brits, while Asians become all rich due to immigrants in the tech industry and A MUCH SMALLER SAMPLE.
White Americans are 77.7% of population.
Asians are about 5%.
While "African Americans" are some arbitrary subset of Black Americans (12.6%) who identify themselves as such and not actually by the particular country or region of origin - like the way others do.
The bigger the sample the closer the median is to THE AVERAGE.
Whites are getting averaged out with Puerto Ricans and Iraqis, while Asians are showing a median between Indians on the top of the list (just above South Africans) and Bhutanese at the very bottom.
Meanwhile, "African Americans" don't get to be counted with Algerians, South Africans, Egyptians, Sierra Leonean Americans... who are ALL ABOVE "African Americans" on the list.
So, surprise-surprise, a sample ("whites") much closer to the size of the population ends up having a median ($ 54,857) very close to the median of the population ($ 51,914).
While small samples deviate significantly - Asians to the right of the population median ($68,088) due to high wages of Indians in IT, and "African Americans" end up deviating to the left of the curve ($ 35,341).
Note how the same thing happens to "Pacific Islands
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I think generalizations and prejudice (i.e. pre-conceived notions about what we think is true) are a common trap that everyone has to stop and think about.
I'm all for being self-aware and checking my assumptions in any situation. For example, in science and technology it makes you a good problem solver to not jump to conclusions based on assumptions.
So why would you even keep the 'white privilege' narrative going? It deliberately generalizes all white people until proven innocent. You say if I'm doing what I can to avoid the sins of stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination, then I am 'safe' from this blame. But that to me sounds too much like 'original sin', guilty until proven innocent, etc.
No, I say nothing of the kind. I bring up the Asians' success in this still predominantly-White country as evidence, that the dominant race — the Whites — are not in fact racist. Or, if they are, it is not to the extent, that would explain the Blacks' high incarceration rates and low incomes.
No, it is not at all acceptable — you pulled words out of thin air and are trying to attribute them to me. I don't think, it is acceptable in the slightest — but it is nonetheless done by the very people, who pretend to "fight racism"...
You really are good with strawmen, aren't you? No, it is not because "Blacks are simply more prone to crime" — it is the people, who grew up fatherless, who are more prone to crime and are otherwise not right in the head. Whatever your race, not having a loving father when you grew up is a major handicap.
But blaming Whitey for the scandalous 67%-figure I quoted above is much harder, than accusing him of things unmeasurable and unverifiable.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
"Diverse society will fail" --Putnam.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...
Casteism
Wasn't that already done nearly 45 years ago, with the movie Watermelon Man?
If you're gonna do this do it for everyone. Including Latinos, Asian, Muslim and let's really try to end bigotry
They call it interracial porn
-- 29A the number of the Beast