However, four scientists from Tel Aviv University think differently. They recently unveiled a new computer program that contains a “beautification engine,” which uses a mathematical formula to alter a face in a photograph to a theoretically more attractive version. According to the programmers, the program maintains an “unmistakable similarity” to the original. The software program is based on the responses of 68 German and Israeli men and women, age 25 to 40, who viewed photographs of white female and male faces and picked the most attractive ones. With this data and an algorithm involving 234 measurements between facial features, like the distance between eyes, scientists trained the computer to determine which distances were the most attractive for each individual face and choose the ideal closest to the original face. They have not developed a program that will be a “beauty estimator” for nonwhite racial and ethnic groups. Keep reading »
