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Google: Our New System For Recognizing Faces Is the Best

schwit1 writes Last week, a trio of Google researchers published a paper on a new artificial intelligence system dubbed FaceNet that it claims represents the most accurate approach yet to recognizing human faces. FaceNet achieved nearly 100-percent accuracy on a popular facial-recognition dataset called Labeled Faces in the Wild, which includes more than 13,000 pictures of faces from across the web. Trained on a massive 260-million-image dataset, FaceNet performed with better than 86 percent accuracy.

The approach Google's researchers took goes beyond simply verifying whether two faces are the same. Its system can also put a name to a face—classic facial recognition—and even present collections of faces that look the most similar or the most distinct.
Every advance in facial recognition makes me think of Paul Theroux's dystopian Ozone.

90 comments

  1. Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The NSA and CIA must love the direction this company has taken.

    1. Re:Google by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Interesting

      there was speculation that, early on, the nsa was a key funder of google. I think there was some dns registration stuff that made people do a double-take (long time ago, when google first started).

      could google have gotton so far without nsa's help? one wonders. and one will never actually know, either.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Google by mbkennel · · Score: 3, Interesting


      > could google have gotton so far without nsa's help? one wonders. and one will never actually know, either.

      It's the other way around. NSA was interested in techniques and technology from google, especially high-performance large scale data processing. NSA was/is behind, and they knew it, and they knew the best didn't want to work with them any more when they could get a pre-IPO position at Google when Google had stunningly capable & ambitious people (2000-2005) on average.

    3. Re:Google by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      and they knew the best didn't want to work with them any more

      "Hey, do you want to work for us? People hate us, you'll have to pass paranoid security evaluation, but at least you'll get awesome government salary."

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Google by linuxguy · · Score: 1

      "there was speculation that, early on, the nsa was a key funder of google..."

      Excellent fact based analysis. This is precisely why I come to Slashdot as opposed to some other forums frequented by conspiracy nuts.

    5. Re:Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you.

      Everyone worth their salt knows Google is just the private sector arm of these 3 letter agencies, doing what they couldn't.
      Google - nothing you need, everything they want.
      CAPTCHA - imperial

  2. Confusion by clam666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    FaceNet achieved nearly 100-percent accuracy...

    " performed with better than 86 percent accuracy. "

    I'm not able to parse these numbers, or I have a misunderstanding as to what nearly means.

    --
    I'm a satanic clam.
    1. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Different databases used for different tests.
      13,000 pictures used in Labeled Faces in the Wild test
      260M pictures used in another test

    2. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      100-percent accuracy and recognizing the presence of a face in a photo
      86-percent accuracy in determining the identity of the face in the photo

    3. Re:Confusion by clam666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Thanks for clearing that up.

      Maybe I screwed up by being on reddit to long earlier, but unless it detects cats I see no use for this technology.

      --
      I'm a satanic clam.
    4. Re:Confusion by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      100-percent accuracy and recognizing the presence of a face in a photo
      86-percent accuracy in determining the identity of the face in the photo

      Also two different databases. The "nearly 100%" was from a standard 13,000 photo data-set. The 86% result was from a different data-set of 260M photos. Very large training sets are critical to accurate neural net performance, so it isn't clear that they have better algorithms, rather than just more thorough training. Even using GPUs, training on that many images must have sucked up a lot of power. I am glad I don't have to pay their electric bill.

    5. Re:Confusion by RingDev · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The part that intrigues me is that they claim to return a name with the face.

      This would imply that their facial recognition isn't just a image match, but that it looks at the context of the photos it finds to attempt to identify meta data about the people within it. Assuming that their facial recognition is no better than anyone else's recognition, by adding meta data to the calculation, especially given Google's propensity to collect and search meta data, it would seem likely that they use the meta data to make stronger identifications and find more reference photos of potential matches.

      For example, if they do the first facial only search and come up with 10,000 possible matches, then they do meta searches on those 10,000 to find more pictures of them, then those pictures are compared for stronger 'training', you wind up with a much higher level of accuracy.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    6. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are reading too much into a single word.

    7. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cat recognition still has a long way to go. Our best bet is to place the picture in a computer screen and use the webcam to see if the humans in front of it are amused and completely lose track of everything else. If they are amused for more than 30 seconds, it's a cat.

    8. Re:Confusion by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Really? My new system for recognizing numbers has deemed these numbers as identical.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They probably get the name-face correlation and the 260M faces from Google+. I guess it's 26M photos from each of the ten Google+ users.

    10. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% is better than 86%.

    11. Re:Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "FaceNet achieved nearly 100-percent accuracy...
      " performed with better than 86 percent accuracy. "
      I'm not able to parse these numbers, or I have a misunderstanding as to what nearly means."

      It's an Asian computer. We look all alike to it.

      But anyway, Google is on the right way. I immediately tested Google Image search with a picture of my face and it said I look like Richard Gere.

    12. Re:Confusion by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "100-percent accuracy and recognizing the presence of a face in a photo"

      Unfortunately they are getting _too_ good.

      I noticed that with the new and improved pixel monster photos, Picasa recognized the faces of every single person in the Reunion photo behind my desk (+50 people), Beethoven's bust on the mantel and a ceramic sun dial on the wall with a face on it and the smiley on the boombox.

      I guess it's time they dialed it back a little.

    13. Re:Confusion by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Cat recognition still has a long way to go. Our best bet is to place the picture in a computer screen and use the webcam to see if the humans in front of it are amused and completely lose track of everything else"

      YOu're doing it wrong, not the screen, you have to use the mouse to recognize cats.

    14. Re:Confusion by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "They probably get the name-face correlation and the 260M faces from Google+. I guess it's 26M photos from each of the ten Google+ users."

      They buy access to Facebook, like everybody else and they have 7 billion photographs on picasa online albums.

    15. Re:Confusion by davester666 · · Score: 1

      marketing. where a small bezel means you put "has no bezel" in big bold letters on all the marketing materials for your monitor.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    16. Re:Confusion by q4Fry · · Score: 1

      You look like a Rick. Your mother looks like a Susan.

  3. Somehow I don't feel like celebrating by Opportunist · · Score: 0

    It's like Guillotine celebrating that his killing device is much more efficient than any other was in history.

    It also meant that more people were decapitated than ever before.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Somehow I don't feel like celebrating by clam666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      But how will they ever tag neckbeards? There's too much data interference to get a good analysis of the face for the neural network. Neckbeards will take over us all and be immune to surveillance. We'll have to go back to reading license plates of cars at Taco Bell at 3am.

      --
      I'm a satanic clam.
    2. Re:Somehow I don't feel like celebrating by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hmm... you're right, we have to get that under control.

      Get the PR dept to slap together a press kit. What we need is footage of some murderers and generally insane people with neckbeards. Make sure that you add a few shots of those islamist loonies, they're full of face wool, too. Tell them to not waste all their powder on one shot, have them release it slowly so it can sink in with the targets. Try to get that Stallman guy in there too, somehow, that way we might get a shot at that open source stuff where we can't sensibly include our backdoors. At least with the boomers it should stick, they know jack about computers but trust the TV.

      Networks should gobble this up without asking, it's free news, that's all they care about.

      For the millennials, try to get the story into one of those "10 things you didn't know" pages. Slap something together about 10 things you don't know about neckbeards, 10 most heinous murderers (of course you pick the neckbeard fraction), get creative! They'll love it.

      Find celebrities and make sure they hate beards. Beards have to become "uncool". Only clean shaven guys get the chicks. And guys, let's not forget the fags.

      Get back to me when this is rolling, maybe we don't even have to do more.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. why do we continue to do research.. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    on really BAD ideas and freedom-killing ideas?

    you don't think this will be mostly used against us, one way or another?

    do no evil? yeah, right. I have this bridge here I can sell you...

    yet another example of 'lets plow ahead and not care about social blowback from our research'. scientists and engineers really need to go back to school and take an ETHICS course or two. maybe they'd realize that 'because you can, does not mean you should'.

    I see nothing good coming from this. nothing at all. just pure evil to be used against people.

    it takes a wise person to realize that some things should not be done. of course, google has geniuses but those geniuses have no idea at all how they are being played and how their work will be used to reduce freedom and privacy. sad that smart people can be conned into working against their own best interests ;(

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    1. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      why do we continue to do research..
      on really BAD ideas and freedom-killing ideas?

      Same reason we continue to write posts with the first sentence in the title:

      Because we are fucking self-centered assholes who think we are clever and
      don't give a damn whether or not our actions make life harder for other people.

    2. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by TFlan91 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

      You and I, as private citizens, take what they produce, determine if it's ethical/profitable/whatever, and act accordingly. Whether that is enacting a law banning said product, regulating it, or saying let the market do with it as it pleases.

      As a programmer, I applaud their skill, and even more so that they were able to complete what they set out to do. As a programmer, I understand why we celebrate these type of stories.

      As a private citizen, I do fear for my privacy.

      But do not confuse the two perspectives.

    3. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it is unnecessary to say the two are exclusive of each other. Of course my opinion: but I feel like scientists and engineers should have an ethical responsibility for what they create, and have the forethought and wisdom to think of its potential usages and then weigh the pros and cons.
      The destruction possible through malpractice of technology, programming, and engineering is magnitudes greater than many other disciplines. That was the gist of what I learned in my ethics of computer science classes.

    4. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So when they blur the faces on Google Street view (which many people are happy they do) it doesn't also blur out the common Colonel Sanders caricature found on the popular chicken joint.

    5. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

      That is idiotic. "Scientists and engineers" are also citizens, and have the capability and duty to think about their actions as much as anyone else.

    6. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by McGruber · · Score: 4, Informative

      Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

      Professional Engineers (PEs) disagree:

      Ethics - National Society of Professional Engineers

      and

      National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics for Engineers

    7. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Convenience trumps morality, ethics for the gross majority of the public.

      Face recognition to us seems like a bad, invasive idea.. But fuck if it isn't convenient. I tiptoed in to facebook because it's the primary means of ride organization for cyclists in my area. When you're snapping photos on rides and sharing them its /great/ at recognizing people, especially if you're bad at names (I'm very very very bad at it. It takes me a good month of semi-regular social interaction to put a name to a face). It really does make coordinating future rides easier.

      On the other hand, this sort of stuff is kind of inevitable. Data storage and computational power available, in general, continues to improve a exponential rates. When every photo is stored forever on the internet, and billions of CPUs are made ever year.. What are we going to do?

      Ban certain types of altorigthims? Make laws forbidding certain kinds of database operations? Because that's all facial recognition is. Just playing with lots and lots and lots of data that's already there, with machines that are already there.

    8. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything will be researched and produced eventually. You can't stop it. You can only deal with it. The question isn't: "Why do we keep researching freedom-killing bad ideas?" The question is: "Why are they ALLOWED to be freedom-killing ideas?"

    9. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

      I disagree; by the time the thing has been developed or invented, its already too late.

      inventors HAVE to be sensitive to how their ideas will be abused.

      again, because it can be done, does not mean it should be done.

      I don't give inventors a pass, sorry. they need to think about their actions and they should be responsible for when bad things happen directly due to their poor choices. if no one is held responsible, then bad idea will continue to enslave us.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    10. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing good, huh? Nothing good? Nothing like better results from security cameras? Among the small things, superior automatic focusing on cameras.

      What evil could come from this other than terrifyingly more effective paparazzis?

    11. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The question is "How is this a freedom killing idea." Really, how. Where's the invasion of privacy in recognizing your face. Like, you had a picture taken of you and you were just counting on people not noticing you in it, so when they made a robit that does that very well you got mad? This doesn't make any since. It's just this weird and recent iteration of paranoia that doesn't extend to actually reasonable apprehensions. My buddy is this way, it's amazingly frustrating.

    12. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by bhagwad · · Score: 1

      it takes a wise person to realize that some things should not be done.

      Mm...nope. Not for me. As a person who loves tech, I want to do EVERYTHING possible in tech. No matter the consequences, no matter the danger, I want to see it happen. The tech is an end in and of itself.

    13. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

      I have no idea where you're getting your definition, but it sucks.

    14. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it can be done it will be done.

      What expecting ethical people to abstain from research does is ensure the people who eventually develop it aren't the ones trying to be ethical.

    15. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess we should have prevented the invention of the computers that allow this research to progress.

    16. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      By only considering "human", I believe you are overlooking the obvious endgame for AI. We're headed directly for the perfect race, and we're defeinitely going to get there, too. It just isn't going to be a version of us.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    17. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Precisely.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    18. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by zlives · · Score: 1

      yes but Elon already warned us about that one so i think we are safe from it :)

    19. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most Software Engineers are NOT PEs. Look at the credits for any AAA title game, and you'll see a bunch of Software Engineers listed in the credits who are not PEs.

    20. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry I frustrated you. It must be hard not understanding how this is just one more way to automate tracking people on a mass scale.

      All of that is ancillary to my point to the OP, though... Substitute Technology X, some placeholder for a technology we both agree enables mass privacy invasion. That technology is going to get invented. You're tilting at windmills trying to blacklist ideas and keep them from being invented ("Why do we keep researching freedom-killing bad ideas?"). We already have a framework for whitelisting technologies for use by law enforcement, et al. So, when Technology X ends up getting used against us on a mass scale, the question is: what allowed that to happen?

      Address that, not the technology.

    21. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      You, suh, are fated to redefine "safe" :)

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    22. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by MechaStreisand · · Score: 1

      Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

      That's not part of the definition of scientist or engineer, you drooling moron.

      --
      Disclaimer: IANAL. This post is, however, legal advice, and creates an attorney-client relationship.
    23. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Yes...and? "Engineer" is a regulated term in most US states, and if you look in the codes where the rules are specified, you'll see specific exemptions for software engineers. Which is to say, they're allowed to use the term to describe themselves, but in a very real sense they are engineers in name only, since they aren't subject to any of the conditions, restrictions, or other regulations that are related to engineers.

      And even if that weren't the case, there's nothing in the definition of "engineer" that suggests that engineers of any variety are not to be ethical. Impartial, maybe. Not ethical? No way.

    24. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by dave420 · · Score: 1

      So as all technology can be misused, we should go back to living in caves. Oh, wait, they can be misused, too, so no caves for anyone. Great logic there, sparky!

    25. Re:why do we continue to do research.. by TFlan91 · · Score: 1

      And you're too literal, you narrow minded moron.

  5. Obligatory.... by Kenja · · Score: 2

    Yup, that's a face. I'd recognize one of those things anywhere.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Obligatory.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a part of our brain dedicated to that, which is why we find them everywhere, even on Mars.

    2. Re:Obligatory.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well be patient. The upcoming Google robot will help with any identification problems. It'll use a laser to put barcode on your forehead while you sleep.

  6. Human tested, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    SkyNet approved.

  7. I am a cynic - especially with Google. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First - Google makes their money from advertising. So, anything they do I am thinking that they are going to pimp data.

    Then, they do these projects - like they're AT&T from the 1970s or something - which BTW, had the ultimate goal of creating products for them or helping their research (see the computer language C++ that was never intended to be a general programming language - just to simulate telephony switches - I digress.)

    Second - being a cynic - how do you keep excellent people to stay and recruit more excellent people? Make it look like you're doing something cool

    Really? How many cool thing Google did and then dumped them?

    They didn't make any money.

    Are they throwing noodles at the wall to see what sticks? Is THAT their business plan?

    Like Amazon's?

  8. but I don't WANT to get faced by swschrad · · Score: 2

    how about instead, when Google face recognition blinks green, it provides the SSN and path to school for Sergey or Larry, instead of me. doesn't that sound appropriate?

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
  9. Doppelganger by irrational_design · · Score: 1

    I so frequently see people who remind me of someone else. Similar facial features/hair/skin coloring/etc. It would be interesting to have it run thru millions of faces and group them by similarity to see if there is a sort of finite number of different face "types". Also, it would be fun to give it a photo of my face and find my doppelgangers.

  10. And use it for what, google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pity they have no worthwhile service to plug it into.

  11. Can we get an API. by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't mind getting my hand on their API. I am almost done with SkyNet. I just needed better face matching... Too many accidents.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  12. IRL Dazzle paint and face mods work by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    And so do "invisible" glasses and scatter light hoodies.

    But that's internal face recoginition stats the NSA and other mil agencies don't want you to know.

    Just dress up for cosplay and game events (foot whatever) and they have a really really hard time tracking and ID'ing you. Especially if you do social camoflage like changing clothing and group and walk.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  13. I'm not sure that's a good thing by hyperar · · Score: 1

    Considering that they took the "do no evil" and remove the "no"

  14. Real Names by thegoldenear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now do you understand Google+'s initial policy on real names?

    Pete Boyd

  15. Scarier than humans being beaten at chess by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 1

    Facial recognition and object recognition was always thought of in the AI community as a "pattern interpretation" skill, and we suspected that human brains have special magic gears for "effortlessly" succeeding at these sorts of tasks, while AI coders struggled to emulate our success.

    Now we're seriously talking about computers already being better at these tasks than we are. This is one of those milestones in AI research when we have to cross off another item from the list of "things that keep AIs from matching or exceeding human intelligence". For now, there are still many items on that list, but I wonder which ones will be crossed of next, and how soon.

    1. Re:Scarier than humans being beaten at chess by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, the "my brain is magic" people will come up with lots more to replace anything that's crossed off.

  16. Now combine this with GoogleGlass... by mrego · · Score: 2

    This would help people like me, who can't put names to faces or fail to notice when a face is the same as the one I saw last year... Perfect Glass application.

    1. Re:Now combine this with GoogleGlass... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but like all the other "perfect" glass applications, it won't work as well when your glasses are mashed into your eye socket by appropriate application of someone's fist. Glasshole.

    2. Re:Now combine this with GoogleGlass... by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

      I'd buy it too. I suck at remembering people's names, its an embarassment. Even people I've known for a while I just can't come up with a name for sometimes.

      --
      Nullius in verba
    3. Re:Now combine this with GoogleGlass... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but like all the other "perfect" glass applications, it won't work as well when your glasses are mashed into your eye socket by appropriate application of someone's fist. Glasshole.

      Oooooh, an internet tough guy. I'd like to you see you try and touch my glasses.

  17. Almost 100% agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sad that smart people can be conned into working against their own best interests ;(

    Yes to the majority, but what I quoted above is just wrong. The people working on these taboo sciences tend to believe that they will be immune somehow to repercussions from the technology when it's used against society. The same thing occurs with all kinds of elicit and illegal activities, I'm sure you can make your own correlations.

    History shows that these people are wrong, but you are dealing with a very strong level of delusion which is usually enhanced by the people feeding them money. "here is a bonus check for all that great work you are doing. And don't worry.. we'll never use this against you".

  18. Bullshit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Scientists are absolutely supposed to be ethical, you turd! Good grief it's not that goddamn hard to read a bit of history and determine when ethics was removed from the curriculum. You are just too goddamn stupid to figure it out on your own.

  19. 86% by MrL0G1C · · Score: 1

    Just thinking about the accuracy level, there are old:middle:young, male:female, black:white:Asian etc

    Can this system even tell the difference between two young white male people or two old female black people? What is the accuracy then?

    Sounds pretty rubbish to me.

    --
    Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
  20. FR utilization by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Services and users high quality facial recognition can be plugged into: CIA, FBI, NSA, state police, local police, bill collectors, "bounty hunters", stalkers, paparazzi, computer security, club membership and virtually every other kind of venue/door lock, real or virtual, sorting your own photos, detecting use of your face in otherwise un-discoverable venues, plus basically about any kind of surveillance you can think of.

    See, here's the thing. If they have your face, and they're hunting for a match, that's pretty bad already in terms of your privacy, but it requires that they already have your face and a specific existing concern, so therefore a reason to go looking for you.

    But a sufficiently powerful system that can identify you generally -- see your face, associate your identity -- can track you (along with everyone else) when they're not looking for you. The implications for privacy and government misbehavior are extremely negative.

    Underlying this is that our system of law is riddled with bad law, for bad reasons, with bad consequences. Copyright, drug use, sexuality, all serve as good examples of issues that the government sees one way, and significant numbers of citizens see somewhat differently. When your private, consensual behavior is unobserved, this causes far less (although certainly not zero) problems. When you are observed all the time... I think we can look for serious negative social impacts.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:FR utilization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It will all pass in a generation or so.
      The current generation still remember the time when we were not tracked, and can be nostalgic about that time (and complain about the new world).
      But we are soon gone, and the new generations will not even be able to imagine not being tracked all the time. Just like we cannot miss a world a hundred years before we were born.

      The problem is temporary.

  21. Not confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Won't work. I laugh at silly kitties too, but I have a 30+ second laughing reaction every time I catch statements from dedicated members of either of the two mainstream political parties, view anything at all congress ever does (best intellectual comedy on the planet is watching those idiots grandstand), or read 99% of the articles about about "sex trafficking."

    Life is really funny. You just need to know where to look (and when to duck.)

  22. This is why: by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    That sounds good. The problem is, and will always be, that you may have the right ethics handled, but somewhere else, someone doesn't, and they'll just create and use the tech against you in an environment where you've not looked at it in a real world sense, and properly compensated for it to the extent that is possible.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re: This is why: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Computers were invented for war. Modern weapons would not work without them. By all definitions computers are unethical invention. Sand is also used in war. Food and medicine are used in war. Even humans are used in war. Perhaps technology is not good or bad?

    2. Re: This is why: by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      An example to disprove the statement: Chemical weapons tuned for humans are a universally bad technology.

      Given that the tech is possible, though, finding antidotes for them, however, is not. And making sure they work means you have to create the weapon tech as well.

      So it can be about the tech; but generally speaking, it isn't.

      Not sure that development of an anti-matter weapon could be justified in the context of anywhere near the planet use, either. Or black hole generation. These kinds of things are too unsubtle to play with unless you've got a really significant buffer zone. And no living relatives.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  23. Google discovers Deep Learning by loufoque · · Score: 1

    So Google has discovered Deep Learning.
    I wonder if they'll publish some material claiming they invented the theory behind it in spite of all the previous work, like with their other achievements?

  24. Speak for yourself; most of us DO have ethics by FreeUser · · Score: 2

    Scientists and engineers are by definition not supposed to be ethical.

    "I just invented the bomb. I didn't drop it."
            --Brice, Max Headroom Episode 1 "Blipverts", 1987

    Reference (in particular, the third video clip): http://www.avclub.com/article/...

    Back then that line was meant as tongue-in-cheek humor, funny because of its ridiculousness Depressing that we've degenerated so far that you've actually said the equivalent with all seriousness. (The same could be said for many things in that once funny, now prophetic series.)

    As engineers and scientists we do NOT check our humanity at the door, or our ethics. At least, good engineers and scientists do not.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  25. Anti-face-recognition options by Mysteryprize · · Score: 1

    Not just neckbeards, creative hairstyles and makeup can easily break facial recognition algorithms. You can already find some nice examples and tutorials for this online. I sort of like the idea of a future where everyone is wearing ziggy stardust kind of makeup.

  26. dopplegangers by jago25_98 · · Score: 1

    Google,
    can I get API access please so I can find my dopplegangers and partner(s?!)

  27. Looking forward to a lock screen update. by OneRealSmartCookie · · Score: 1

    I'll believe it when my phone can reliably recognize me.

  28. What's it taste like "eating your words"? LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Eat your words" Dave420 or prove me wrong http://slashdot.org/comments.p... (which you've failed TONS of times @ & you always ran from that completely FAIR challenge to you, just like the trolling weasel you clearly are...)

    * Tell us: How do those words of yours taste flavored with the "bitter taste of SELF-defeat" & washed down with your foot in your mouth ramming them down your throat? R O T F L M A O...

    APK

    P.S.=> You called me ALL KINDS of names: Well, since you're technically incompetent & the above link will just prove it again? Live up to a fair challenge put to you (of course, a TROLL WEASEL like yourself never has, or will - & as usual, I win - getting to make a FOOL out of you publicly, yet again also, "bonus"... lol!)... apk

  29. Not polite to talk w/ your mouth full by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've been called out & ran Sparky: See subject & this http://slashdot.org/comments.p... and change your diet, for Pete's sake! "Eating your words" != GOOD NUTRITION, troll! Tell us, won't you, how does eating your words taste flavored with the bitter taste of SELF-defeat with your foot in your mouth ramming those words down your troll throat, worm? LMAO!

  30. Everyone just loves you Sparky/Dave420 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0