Calling BS on Phrenology 2.0

The pseudoscience of phrenology has seen a revival in the past year. One recent article claimed to have developed machine learning methods for inferring criminality by looking only at facial photos. Another paper this year — breathlessly reported on by the Economist, the Guardian and the New York Times — claims an ability to infer sexual orientation using facial photos. 

Jevin West argues that the claims are dubious at best. Using data reasoning strategies from the “Calling BS” course he teaches, he will show how a focus on the data input and output — without any knowledge of the black box algorithms or statistics — is all that is needed to refute the phrenology assertions.

If you cannot join us in Odegaard 220, please join us via Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/945842195