Universal Human Face: Is it Real?

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The discussion centers on the concept of superimposing multiple human faces from various races to create a "universal human face." Participants explore the idea that if enough faces are combined, the resulting images from different samples might be similar, potentially leading to identical outcomes if the samples are balanced in terms of race, sex, and age. However, there is acknowledgment that while the images may be very close, they would not be identical due to the subtle differences in facial features. The conversation also touches on the San people of Africa, noted for their unique features that challenge conventional racial categorizations, highlighting the complexity of human facial diversity and ancestry.
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I've heard from someone that if you superimpose enough pictures human faces (of all races) on top of each other, you get something like a universal human face. I mean like if you have several samples and superimpose all faces from each sample, the end result from each sample would be the same! Anybody heard of this or knows anymore or is this just gibberish? :confused:
 
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Crumbles said:
I've heard from someone that if you superimpose enough pictures human faces (of all races) on top of each other, you get something like a universal human face. I mean like if you have several samples and superimpose all faces from each sample, the end result from each sample would be the same! Anybody heard of this or knows anymore or is this just gibberish? :confused:


I suppose it would depend on just how subtle the differences are (that can be picked up) between our faces. It would be a snapshot but would it need to be updated every second with each new birth? Presumably they would need to be within a fairly narrow age range?
 
JD said:
I suppose it would depend on just how subtle the differences are (that can be picked up) between our faces. It would be a snapshot but would it need to be updated every second with each new birth? Presumably they would need to be within a fairly narrow age range?

Well, it's not nessarily something that would need to be updated with each new birth. Say you have 5 samples of 100 000 human faces. Superimpose the 100 000 faces on top of each other for each sample, you'll end up with 5 final images. What I got told was that those 5 images would be identical!
 
They would surely be very close, assuming you had the same proportions of different "races", sexes, ages, etc. in each of the samples. Identical, not.
 
You might find it interesting to look up the San people from Africa. They are one of the oldest known Homo sapien races and have many features that are commonly associated with different races today. For example, they have a medium skin tone and the same eye shape as Orientals (with extra skin for protection against the sun). Their race is ancestral to the movement of Homo sapiens around the world.
 
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