The Internet and the surface of the story of the blind people

Author: Zheng Zhang, Microsoft Research Asia , Vice President, network and system specialists

Introduction

A few months ago I was in the "Best of 2007" AmericanScience Writing the book, read an article the FaceBlind article.

This story makes me think a lot. At the end of 2007 was held at the Institute of systems and networks in the area of a regular meeting, I'd like to tell you the story. I hope everyone from every day with heavy technology research and development, looked up, see far, wide.

Surface of the birth of blind people

This is a tormented world 2% of rare diseases, and can be genetic, so it should be a long history.

But its official medicine ' is only a few short decades, but is also born in unusual places. In the field of World War II frontline, a shell fragment breakdown of a Lieutenant of Germany, spring out of the brain, he not only survived, but everything works, except for: all of the cheek to him disappear, unable to distinguish, even includes his own face. When indications doctor JoachimBodamer let his wife put on nurses and other four nurses stand together, he could not find her, he saw only five nurses. His vision is completely normal: this is the nose, it is the eyes together is a "face", but the face belongs to who's who or who is not, has become completely incredible.

In over a dozen kilometers Dresdon, allied forces dropped nearly 7000 tons of bombs, the entire city was already scorched.

The Allied bombing of the next goal is to carry out precisely Bodamer Stuttgart treatment. In such bad condition, Bodamer wrote up to 47-page report, and asked: can we perceive all, just an illusion, and that is a concatenation of the components of the illusion? he took two Greek roots to this disease was a more complicated name, called "prosopagnosia".

In the ensuing years, people find this kind of patient.

In most cases, are concentrated in stroke patients. But such cases are less and less, the number of times a very isolated found, spread throughout the world. Poor sampling results in any meaningful comparison and study cannot expand, not to mention a controlled experiment. This causes the entire medical community understanding of prosopagnosia, except the record completely stagnated.

In the late 1970s, a small town in the United States, young lawyers Choisser often fall into in court does not find his client sits in the awkward position in which the popularity has become increasingly worse.

Others complain that he's arrogant, met not say hello, but he just didn't know who is who. He can't bear pressure, finally dismissed, on the San Francisco a building site found a job accounting work. Here, he only needs to be faced with a number, do not need to identify people. In this extreme self closed rediscovered picked himself. The doctors told his illness similar prosopagnosia, his eyesight super good, there is yet to find a patient, like Choisser claiming to be as natural.

(United Kingdom model ZoeHunn (right) and his friends, his father also face blindness, Zoe recognize her good friend's face; this figure comes from the United States journal Wired)

But he managed to open a window.

In the late 1990s, when the first wave of Internet bubble when stimulated, he opened a Yahoo discussion group, the name "FaceBlind" ("blind" surface). Full earth crowded to squeeze out of how many million faces, all meaningless to him, the signifier and refers to the complete fracture between, unable to heal. He did not know where, in addition to want someone to listen.

He did not think that this will have a surface of blind this family.

If you can speak to the network, network integration and index information, index of results is to query, the query result can be contacted, you can contact can cluster. The world becomes very small, has become greatly. Can't face, they also recognize words. Life helpless side blind aggregation became blind, they face online mutual comfort, mutual support.

The significance of our busy work

Blind communities formed surface in a few months, been a California SantaBarbara University School of Medicine School doctoral BradDuchaine looking for Dr. subject of caught.

Prior to this, Brad is a poisoning quite dark network gaming family, school, and neglect the excessive gaming made him unable to drive a car on the road. However, the game family touch above blind family day was opened a new page. Brad on ChOisser of widespread interest, scientific officer with the establishment of this network Choisser groups as a platform, contact spreading global patients, resulting in a large sample sets up a scheme of experiments. Although the side blind cure also in the foreseeable future, but for this disease has had a breakthrough. Experimental results show that the performance of surface blind can be multiple levels, some mild patients or even just have no feeling on the skin. By contacting the patient's family, the Basic can determine if the disease is inherited. The results of the sampling statistics about 2%, the population suffering from various degrees of the blind. Brain scans find Visual system to identify the portion of the face of shrinking, vascular contraction or blocked. These results, the invention of the Internet is not possible before. Today, the opposite of the blind has become aware of people's perception of an important branch.

Like all received basic training but into practical technical research and development of people, I'm on modern physics and human perception both direction has maintained a amateur enthusiasts interested in.

In reading a "book" OnIntelligence, I used to believe that a unified theory that human perception is a basic neural network system in the continuous external feedback, improvement and development. This theory does not recognize the face recognition and identification of other shapes any essential differences.

The surface of the story of the blind people tell me the truth, on the contrary, the reason is very simple.

If we believe that lives in this dimension of gene's mission is to multiply, then any crowd are most concerned about a new life is his biological parents, because only in this new life will bring their genes. Conversely, a new individual is very fragile, if he/she will not be able to quickly identify yourself in the crowd, that parents would be very dangerous. From the perspective of biological evolution, quickly and accurately locate their custodian capacity is indispensable. Face recognition mechanism is different from and leading to the identification of other artifacts in this world, full of course.

Surface of the blind is the network, which concerned the Internet technical aspects we are basically equivalent.

This is the technology a decade ago, now even more rapid progress. But I sometimes doubt these technology leaps to this already quite crowded complicated world exactly what? send a simple email, convenient and quick thinking of the consequences is that the time has become very scarce. At the Shanghai Art Museum exhibition of France shortly before the Pompidou Center works, there is one case is when taken baby TV's face, and another group of children who have congenital dementia video mixed together, even if they're careful, it is not easy to distinguish. I have accompanied the Microsoft Headquarters colleagues to visit China's Internet cafes, surprised to see who was beating: keyboard or keyboard control of the person to share between Palm? before all the screen faces are so blurred and morbid, pale and floating in the smog.

("Blind" art poster surface, minority Garden Forum royalties according to Zhang Xiaogang works adapted)

But if you do not have Internet, face the blind will still be floating in the world of their own loneliness, forever lost in a large number of faces.

From isolated surface to surface for the blind, blind people are typical examples of changeing. But if you can't get sand piles, meeting the water into the River, science is not as far as may be, on our own understanding of it is everywhere. Unable to understand, it is even more impossible to progress. If not, we face a fate that is collective face blindness.

Our industry is so busy with the ultimate goal, and not in the eradication of face blindness.

We are too far away from science, even in the best of the best companies or research institutions, to profit driver also allows us to also have no time to see far away. But please do not believe in the significance of our work is to let a huge money-making machine go faster. Have some life, such as statements that are not Choisser discarded, even in the most adverse circumstances. The purpose of our busy work, is to help Choisser; help Choisser, is to help ourselves.