Oh, science. What won’t you think of next? Some scientist and his colleagues at West Virginia University at Morgantown have developed software that analyzes people’s faces and uses that information to… calculate their BMI. No, really.
There’s a bunch of information in the article about just what gets measured, and how the software scanned over 14,000 faces and was within 2-3 points of accurately guessing BMI. Um, good for you, software guys?
Maybe, like me, you’re wondering what the practical application of this software might be. Let’s let the guy who developed it, Guodong Guo, answer that question:
This could be used in smart health applications, relating face images to BMI and associated health risks. Or on online dating sites, for instance, it could help you assess the BMI and state of health of people you might date.
First of all, I can’t believe this software is really accurate. What about fat people with thin faces? What about thin people with fat faces? Bodies come in a zillion different configurations, and the idea that these fancy algorithms could accurately predict BMI based on just a face shot seems pretty hard to believe.
Second, BMI? Ugh. It’s really not an accurate indicator of health (and it wasn’t meant for that in the first place). According to BMI charts, I’m not morbidly obese, which I guess means I have a few good years in me yet, but I am definitely moderately obese. Which hasn’t yet prevented me from, you know, doing 10 half marathons, or having excellent metabolic indicators. If I could start a revolution, it would be a No More BMI revolution. To the barricades!
And finally, the dating site thing. Are we really a society that needs a BMI filter to help us find potential mates? I already have such great success on dating sites, what with men being able to filter me out because I don’t identify as “slim,” “slender,” or “athletic and toned” (of course those two words always have to be paired together), but now the idea that men could filter me out based on my BMI (or my software-estimated one)? I love that this guy thinks that you can judge someone’s “state of health” based on BMI, and further, that we might want to judge potential mates by it. You can’t hear me, but I’m sighing really, really loud right now.
In conclusion, this scientific advancement is just completely wonderful and will improve our society in so many wonderful ways. More tools to discriminate against and shame fat people are just what we all need. Wheee, science!
