Pluralistic: The meritocracy to eugenics pipeline (20 May 2025)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/20/big-cornflakes-energy/
#Phrenology
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period.pluralistic.net@web.brid.gy
2025-05-20
> During.. the 18th century, a pseudoscience, #phrenology.. emerged that pretended to predict mental traits by measuring bumps on the skull. #CesareLombroso’s theory of anthropological criminology.. stated that criminality was inherited, and that someone “born criminal” could be identified by physical traits. And that was considered “science”!!
> I think we’re back to a kind of #NeoPhrenology, the widespread societal misconception tha.. you can use AI to address any problem and find the “right” solution.
https://blog.quintarelli.it/2024/10/technological-solutionism-bias-the-most-perilous-form-of-ai-bias/
#WideHatsNarrowMinds
Cool stuff. I'd like to fiddle with epaper but haven't got to it yet.
Also, if "doing phrenology on your pigs" isn't already a euphemism for something, it should be.
[Boosts Appreciated]
"I am autistic, suspect I am autistic, or have a similar neurological difference.
Given my age/sex, the size of my skull is:"
@brucelawson A pre-crime unit. I’ve seen that movie. We see what we want to believe is true.
Also thought of the above while reading the post about “Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers' personalities based on their faces” by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic
https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/17/caliper-ai/#racism-machine #racism #ai #bigData #phrenology
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
PHYSIOGNOMY, n. The art of determining the character of another by the resemblances and differences between his face and our own, which is the standard of excellence.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Physiognomy,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/75545…
#quote #quotes #quotation #appearance #bias #categorization #character #ego #norm #phrenology #physiognomy #prejudice #standard
German neuroanatomist physiologist Franz Joseph Gall, born OTD in 1758, was a pioneer in the localization of mental functions in the brain, although his work was largely the pseudoscience of #phrenology https://toilet-guru.com/cholera-pump.html?s=mb #medicine #PublicHealth
Sit still please
I'm only measuring your skull to check if you're a nazi.
This won't hurt.
Honest.
"As with other forensic innovations, like forensic genetic genealogy or facial recognition, FDP is sold as an “investigative tool” — that is, a product not intended for use as evidence in a criminal proceeding, but as a behind-the-scenes aide to police searching for perpetrators. But selling a scientifically questionable product as a mere investigative tool can have real-world consequences.
For FDP in particular, experts warn that the composite images can reinforce racial stereotypes, encourage the over-surveillance of marginalized communities, and deny criminal defendants important information about how they became a target of an investigation, which raises serious implications for Fourth Amendment privacy rights. Composites like those Parabon sells could also inadvertently taint the memories of eyewitnesses to a crime, risking potentially valuable evidence.
Paula Armentrout, Parabon’s co-founder, provided written responses to questions from The Intercept about the company’s Snapshot program. In part, the company said that The Intercept “should not quote any of the presenters” at the NAS workshop, who it claims “made many false, uninformed, and misleading statements that were not based on evidence or facts, but on misinformation propagated by inaccurate media articles, hearsay, and their own personal and political agendas.”
Walsh insists her criticisms are motivated solely by her fidelity to the science and to ensuring the transparency and accuracy of forensic tools used in the criminal legal system. To that end, she was emphatic during the workshop: Law enforcement should not be allowed to purchase phenotyping composites. “The science isn’t there. We shouldn’t be doing it,” she said. At this juncture, she said, those sketches are about as scientific as “my son drawing them.”"
https://theintercept.com/2025/02/02/forensic-dna-phenotyping-parabon-nanolabs-police/
#PseudoScience #Surveillance #Forensics #CivilLiberties #DNA #Phrenology
Victorian times: Skull bumps #Phrenology, face wrinkles #Physiognomy, "bad air" #Miasma, #SocialDarwinism, & #WhiteSupremacy...and we're STILL clinging to some of this nonsense?! Ghosts #Spiritualism & star signs #Astrology too? Seriously? 🤦♀️
Phrenology is about to make a come back. If you're having trouble with a morally contracted inability to cash in on populism, brainworms can be therapuetic.
The year is 2003. My mother is telling me with total seriousness that she is smarter than her husband because her forehead is taller than his. This woman was a registered nurse. #Phrenology #HealthcareWorkersCanBeNutsToo
A UC Berkeley linguist explores what Kamala Harris’ voice and speech reveal about her identity
"When we talk about Kamala Harris as a modern candidate, she is in some ways embodying all of the ways the country has moved on from the idea that you can only be one thing at once."
Not tagged as #-uspol because it's more #sociolinguistics honestly #aural #phrenology I don't know.
@drml Uutta frenologiaa etsimässä, https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenologia, vaiko vain neuro-hypeä?
Peter Brookes on #KeirStarmer #Phrenology – political cartoon gallery in London original-political-cartoon.com
German neuroanatomist physiologist Franz Joseph Gall, who died OTD in 1828, was a pioneer in the localization of mental functions in the brain, although his work was largely the pseudoscience of #phrenology https://toilet-guru.com/cholera-pump.html?s=mb #medicine #PublicHealth
Just saw someone refer to phrenology in the context of right-wing politics.
Please tell me conservatives aren't pushing phrenology.
This is a lot worse than the flat-earth nonsense.
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.04
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst