4 ms·
> What's racist is the culture of software engineering which only tests that software on white faces, and doesn't consider it a problem. That's a pretty cynica
by ARandomerDude 5y ago
> What's racist is the culture of software engineering which only tests that software on white faces, and doesn't consider it a problem.
That's a pretty cynical take. Every project I've ever worked on, regardless of the problem domain, operated with the 80/20 rule in mind. Solve the easy problems first, get something out the door and then work on the harder problems. If dark skin is a harder problem in image recognition, it doesn't mean a developer is racist for solving the easier parts of the problem first.
- ganzuul 5y agoBy the time you get to the minorities the majority has moved on and your company pulls support on the non-profitable minorities. Did you become an engineer to work on easy problems?
- krapp 5y agoThe normalization of whiteness as default which leads to the attitude that considers facial recognition software which only works on white faces to be complete enough to ship, rather than fundamentally broken, is where the racism comes in. Racism doesn't always come from overt bigotry or hatred. It can be expressed by simply accepting the status quo of systemic bias, because it's less work, or more cost effective, than doing otherwise.