Thedystopian futureis one step closer to reality , thanks to a new computer algorithm educate by a pair of scientists from Shanghai Jiao Tong University that is supposedly able to discover felon from law - stomach citizen just by analyzing their typeface . While some may take this news as the biggest indication yet that we are all live in aPhilip K Dick history , it ’s unlikely that this applied science will ever actually be used to preemptively catch mass for their succeeding crimes .
After keep an eye on 1,856 mugshot , roughly half of which belonged to convictedcriminals , the estimator was able to place a number of distinctive characteristic that allowed it to reliably distinguish outlaws from " inlaws " . Thereafter , it was able to predict with almost 90 percent accuracy which faces belonged to transgressors and which did not .
In their paper – presently uncommitted via the preprint serverarXiv – the researchers say that their algorithm found key differences between the two group , let in “ lip curvature , eye inner recess distance , and the so - called nose - mouth angle . ”
Top quarrel shows the four criminal face type ; bottom row depict non - criminal type . Xiaolin Wu , Xi Zhang
They also say that criminal and non - reprehensible face types can be more generally categorized as belong to one of two main “ manifold ” . Three different facial structures were found to belong to to the police - abiding manifold paper , while four were identify within the criminal manifold .
“ In other words , ” publish the study authors , “ the faces of oecumenical natural law - conjure world have a greater degree of resemblance compared with the case of outlaw , or crook have a higher degree of unsimilarity in facial appearance than normal mass . ”
Unsurprisingly , the field of study has stirred up a considerable amount ofcontroversy , with many commentator pointing to the fact that not only is this character of categorizing totally unethical , but it also falls into a clearly grey area of scientific reliability , as all affiliation between physical characteristic and personality traits have been well and really debunk .
