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What Image Should Represent All of Humanity On Wikipedia? (wired.com)
An anonymous reader writes: If aliens ever do come across the Pioneer spacecraft and make assumptions about the entire human species based on the man and woman etched onto the plaque it carries, this is what they will think of us: We all look like white people; we all look about 30ish years old; we do not wear clothes. It's a problem you encounter anytime you have to choose a few individuals to represent an entire group, and it's one that the editors of Wikipedia have debated for years: What image should grace the top of the "human" entry in the online dictionary?
The photo that's there now, after years of feverish debate, is of an Akha couple from a region of Thailand along the Mekong river. "The photo of the Akha couple remain humanity's type specimens on Wikipedia," writes author Ellen Airhart. "Just as a shriveled northeastern leopard frog at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology represents its whole species, so this couple stands for all of us."
Such musing about the taxonomic representation of the human species could actually have a big impact on our digital future. "Future scientists will have to teach computers, not aliens, to recognize the human image. Right now, software engineers program artificial intelligence to recognize people by feeding them millions of pictures of faces," she writes. "But whose faces? Computer scientists run into the same questions about gender, race, and culture that the Wikipedia editors encountered. Being able to use more than one photo expands the conversation but does not necessarily make it easier."
The photo that's there now, after years of feverish debate, is of an Akha couple from a region of Thailand along the Mekong river. "The photo of the Akha couple remain humanity's type specimens on Wikipedia," writes author Ellen Airhart. "Just as a shriveled northeastern leopard frog at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology represents its whole species, so this couple stands for all of us."
Such musing about the taxonomic representation of the human species could actually have a big impact on our digital future. "Future scientists will have to teach computers, not aliens, to recognize the human image. Right now, software engineers program artificial intelligence to recognize people by feeding them millions of pictures of faces," she writes. "But whose faces? Computer scientists run into the same questions about gender, race, and culture that the Wikipedia editors encountered. Being able to use more than one photo expands the conversation but does not necessarily make it easier."
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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
. . . .that reads:
"Stop sending us naked pictures of yourselves and directions to your home planet. It's ***CREEPY***. . . . ."
(evil grin)
If we are going to be putting these images on deep space probes, that might be found by aliens, we need to ensure that the images do not portray us as being "tasty".
Otherwise, the aliens might visit us with Soylent Green intentions.
We need to dress up the images of humans with huge pointy teeth, porcupine spikes, eagle claws and a nasty Stegosaurus tail.
Or, just plain giant armadillo pictures might work:
https://www.google.com/search?...
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Or a picture of a steaming pile of fresh human feces.
It's the one thing we all have in common and, adjusting for local diet, it all looks pretty much the same no matter the race, ethnicity, religion, ideology, or wealth.
Shit is the one thing and the one symbol that binds the human race together and describes with one image the results of our existence thus far and likely the legacy we leave behind, and the universe could not have chosen more appropriately. It's so uncanny, in fact, that it might even be an argument for intelligent design! :D
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Or Caitlyn Jenner. Anyway, sure to confuse our alien overlords.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
I would have thought frosty piss would be a better fit.
Goatse
...if Aliens look to Wikipedia for anything.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.