What is a face? And what does it mean to recognize one? Given the prevalence of particular faces and the frequency of encounters that we have with them in our everyday lives, it may seem counterintuitive, perhaps even useless, to ask these sorts of questions. And yet, the creation of modern facial recognition technologies is premised upon these very questions, and moreover, their widespread implementation by governmental bodies to identify individuals for security purposes may very well be the r…
Read moreWhat is a face? And what does it mean to recognize one? Given the prevalence of particular faces and the frequency of encounters that we have with them in our everyday lives, it may seem counterintuitive, perhaps even useless, to ask these sorts of questions. And yet, the creation of modern facial recognition technologies is premised upon these very questions, and moreover, their widespread implementation by governmental bodies to identify individuals for security purposes may very well be the result of the collective failure to ask them. Thus, the banal obviousness that marks the face, which at times undermines or covers over the need for its philosophical investigation, is what simultaneously demands that this investigation take place. By returning to these questions—particularly in light of current technological advances in facial recognition systems and softwares and their implementation in the United States and abroad—the contemporary ethical and political dimensions of the development and deployment of facial recognition technologies are important issues for those concerned with global justice.
