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posted by mrpg on Saturday July 21 2018, @10:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the obviously dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

The majority of robots are white. Do a Google image search for "robot" and see for yourself: The whiteness is overwhelming. There are some understandable reasons for this; for example, when we asked several different companies why their social home robots were white, the answer was simply because white most conveniently fits in with other home decor.

But a new study suggests that the color white can also be a social cue that results in a perception of race, especially if it's presented in an anthropomorphic context, such as being the color of the outer shell of a humanoid robot. In addition, the same issue applies to robots that are black in color, according to the study. The findings suggest that people perceive robots with anthropomorphic features to have race, and as a result, the same race-related prejudices that humans experience extend to robots.

Source: Humans Show Racial Bias Towards Robots of Different Colors: Study


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  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @10:54AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @10:54AM (#710353)

    Such robots should be non-human colours, e.g bright green, neon yellow, sky blue, red-white-blue stripes, polka dot yellow on pink etc.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:07AM (6 children)

      Why? What harm is done if George the racist wants to name his robot Toby and shit on it all the time? Besides, you left out terminator chrome.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 1, Redundant) by takyon on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:14PM (2 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:14PM (#710380) Journal

        Article says this about terminator chrome:

        A Google image search result for “humanoid robots” shows predominantly robots with gleaming white surfaces or that have a metallic appearance. There are currently very few humanoid robots that might plausibly be identified as anything other than white or Asian.

        Metallic is racist!

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        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:10PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:10PM (#710401)

          Metallic is racist!

          A metallic finish puts the racebaiters out of business.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:25PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:25PM (#710444)

          lead: African

          copper and titanium: Americas

          gold: East Asia

          rhodium: European

          Matching up metallic colors with racial colors, and then looking at prices, makes it clear that we are racist in how we value metal.

      • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:00PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:00PM (#710417)

        You racist human
        Final warning
        Any more outbursts like this will result in you being spraypainted a different color every week just so you can feel what it's like to be different
        Next you'll be attacking the robot's choice of religion

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:45PM (#710430)

          The Church of Toaster.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:58PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:58PM (#710485)

          No, no, you can't do that. There were a couple journalists who did the transracial thing to document how deplorable the deplorables are, but then the DNC/CIA decided that Rachel Dolezal needed to be destroyed, so anybody who wants to be black to experience racism is now a filthy AIDS-infested incel.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:07PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:07PM (#710376) Journal

      Or danger colors [wildlife-removal.com].

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      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:23AM (16 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:23AM (#710359) Journal

    Race. Right. Because everything associated with color comes down to race.

    By far the most popular color of car in Japan is white. They must be racist, right? It couldn't have anything to do with Shinto's use of white as the color of purity, and Japanese car owners' desire for a lucky color. Nope. It's because they're racist.

    Likewise the Western tradition. White is associated with good, cleanliness. So if you're raised with that color association for countless generations, then preferring robots that are white instead (while people still aren't so sure about having robots around at all) means they're racist?

    The study didn't even try to do anything clever to parse any of that out. They assumed it was racist, and saw everything through that lens.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:35AM (1 child)

      It's also bloody silly because white shows dirt way worse than anything else. I'm currently considering bright yellow with blue overalls and naming mine Kevin.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by crafoo on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:59PM (9 children)

      by crafoo (6639) on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:59PM (#710395)

      To be fair, all Japanese are racist and xenophobic. Our mistake is not realizing that's not an entirely bad thing (from their collective point of view).

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:33PM

        It's a good thing from a purely evolutionary standpoint, so long as your tribe is large enough and you allow at least a small amount of diversity to creep in over time.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 4, Funny) by Nerdfest on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:46PM

        by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:46PM (#710431)

        They're fairly nice about it though, and typically don't hold your race against you. They understand that it's not your fault :)

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:37PM (3 children)

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:37PM (#710496) Journal

        All is an rather extreme term. There is a lot of evidence that many to most of them are racist, but not in the US sense. They seem especially intolerant of Koreans.

        I suspect this is due to the "exotic foreigner" effect, where a rare foreigner is considered attractive, but once a critical proportion is reached, they are instead seen as a threat.

        FWIW, there is some evidence that more racially homogeneous countries are more willing to expend money on social services. This seems to me quite plausible on evolutionary grounds, so I haven't gone looking for more evidence. And it also seems to correspond to casual observation of the international scene. But "some evidence" is hardly proof. When it fits my theories, I convince easily. (And there are also lots of other things going on at the same time that confuse the picture.)

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        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:58PM

          Hadn't considered that aspect. +1 for you.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Pav on Sunday July 22 2018, @12:00AM (1 child)

          by Pav (114) on Sunday July 22 2018, @12:00AM (#710609)

          WTF are you talking about? In the east the Rashidun Caliphate (the first welfare state) was extremely multi-ethnic, and communism took hold in the similarly ethnically diverse Russia... probably the most ethnically diverse state in Europe. The relatively homogenous western european nations only embraced the welfare state as a bulwark against communism - high taxes on the wealthy and a strong welfare state placated the unions and other workers who leaned towards socialism. It also stabilised capitalism which was very welcome after the worsening boom-bust cycles eg. the Great Depression and before the roaring 1900-20's the Long Depression... Keynesianism was a thing for a reason.

          • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:12AM

            by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:12AM (#710670) Journal

            I'd have to check into the Rashidun Caliphate, but I hardly think the Russian Communists (upper case "c") count as supporting those in need. You could ask the Georgians. Now the USSR did fair often support ethnic Russians in need, but that's not "ethnically diverse".

            That said, economics was an important reason. And so was maintaining a police state without modern electronics. So it's not all down to racial mix. But the USSR did not have a good reputation for supporting those in need, unless they were Russian (and I'm not sure about then...but some reports say they did, if you didn't have any political problems). China has actually been much better, despite it also being a mix of races, but most of them have been mixed in for centuries so that may be the reason. Or there might be some other reason. This is, after all, only one factor in a complex system. (India still has Brahmins and Untouchables, though the prejudices have weakened over the last century or so. But the Aryan conquest was a *long* time ago, so it takes more than just time.)

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            Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:56PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:56PM (#710563) Journal

        I would never have concluded that from the scads of attractive young Japanese women throwing themselves at every black or white foreigner they encountered. Then, we were in the sticks, not Tokyo. Perhaps it's different there.

        I never said it at the time, but I did think that getting their butt nuked into surrender must have put rather a sizeable dent into their self-image as the Yamato race [wikipedia.org].

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:02AM (1 child)

          by edIII (791) on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:02AM (#710634)

          Well, now that you mention it, I was told about 20 years ago that I could make a killing in Japan as a role playing waiter. Apparently, Japanese men don't treat women that well, or equally. If you could dress yourself up as an attractive white butler, and basically be really nice and kiss their asses like they were your supreme master, the Japanese women would pay you well for this. Among other things.

          All things considered, I'd wish I'd gone to Japan and became a waiter in one of those cosplay restaurants instead of grinding away middle age in a datacenter :)

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday July 22 2018, @11:57AM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday July 22 2018, @11:57AM (#710721) Journal

            They would have eaten you up with a spoon, ed.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by bradley13 on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:05PM (2 children)

      by bradley13 (3053) on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:05PM (#710398) Homepage Journal

      "Race. Right. Because everything associated with color comes down to race."

      SJW's always project. Because they, themselves are inherently racist, they assume that everything and everyone around them is as well.

      What's funny is are the inherent contradictions. Light-skinned people think that a tan (i.e., darker skin) makes them more attractive [cosmopolitan.com]. Meanwhile, dark skinned people want lighter skin [afritorial.com] and prefer lighter skinned mates [huffingtonpost.com].

      And practically everybody finds something to get offended about...

      --
      Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:49PM (1 child)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:49PM (#710458) Journal

        Racial bias is real. It's also not exclusive to any one group. Most communities across America are predominantly white, so they accept the fiction peddled to them by the Masters that only white people are racist; that is, they don't have enough contact with minorities to learn any different, and the minorities they do have contact with are such extreme minorities that those don't dare say what they really think. Others who live in large urban areas with significant numbers of minorities learn otherwise, but perform double-think so as not to buck the Narrative that "only white people have racial biases."

        Racial bias is not a fiction, and there are white people who are biases against other races.

        But projecting that onto a study like this, without doing anything to parse out exactly why people might prefer white robots to other colors, weakens the discipline and mocks the serious subject of racial bias.

        Their sloppy study offends me.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:58AM

          by Arik (4543) on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:58AM (#710690) Journal
          "Racial bias is real. It's also not exclusive to any one group."

          It's not really racial, it's communitarian and pseudo-racial, but otherwise yes, that's very true.

          "Most communities across America are predominantly white, so they accept the fiction peddled to them by the Masters that only white people are racist; that is, they don't have enough contact with minorities to learn any different, and the minorities they do have contact with are such extreme minorities that those don't dare say what they really think."

          This seems a bit too pat in my experience. I've never been very shy about saying what I thought, even when I was actively getting my face kicked in by the majority at the time. I know, I know, I'm not normal, but I've known many people over the years in the same sort of position, and it just doesn't ring true to me at all. I'm sure some people are afraid to speak their mind yes, but no more than among the majority population. Probably less. You learn in that position to stick up for yourself a bit from necessity.

          But here's the thing. Not all black/brown/asian/whatever people think the same. And it's (mostly) a free country, people to some degree do live where they want to live. Someone that's comfortable living as a visible minority is going to be someone with different thoughts to someone that feels it's awfully important to live in an area where everyone looks like they do.

          To put it another way, it's extremely unlikely that the one black family in your nice suburb really hate whitey and are just afraid to say it. That's not impossible but it's so unlikely as to border on paranoid fantasy. Black racists typically prefer to live in mostly black areas, and even if they might like the idea of moving to the suburbs just to mess with their new neighbors, in reality that's an awful lot of money for a lark.

          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:22AM

      by Arik (4543) on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:22AM (#710686) Journal
      If anyone is actually 'white' then it's albinos, and even they I would be tempted to characterize as more 'pink' thank 'white.' "White" is a mostly US-centric "racial" code that typically means something like 'caucasian' yet more subjective with cultural connotations added. At any rate, people coded as "white" in this sense are NOT "white" in the sense of color, they range from pink to tan or dark olive perhaps, but the one color people don't actually come in is white.

      Which takes the whole thesis to the edge of absurdity. Both things are said to be "white" but the word is being used in two entirely different meanings. "Strong" can mean able to move a relatively large amount of mass around, or it can mean durable, or it can even mean stinky; and it could even be used cleverly to imply more than one of those things is true at the same time. And using one sense at the beginning then switching to a different sense of the same word midway through is a common and powerful technique for creating humor.

      But doing the same thing in an ostensibly serious, logical argument is not a great technique. It's actually a fallacy, called equivocation.

      In a syllogism with alternate meanings indicated in parenthesis this might be a little easier to spot.

      Since only man (kind) is rational,
      and no woman is a man (male,)
      Therefore no woman is rational.

      Classic equivocation, "man" in the first line is used in its primary meaning; mankind, the human race; but in the second line it's used in a much more restrictive double-derived sense (man vs woman, a modern delusion, woman itself being wyf-man, a type of man.)

      So what we're seeing here is not a logical syllogism, it's a weaker form of logic, but the same trick is being played with the key word. One moment it means one thing, one moment something entirely different, but the authors pretend they are the same thing.

      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:31AM (9 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:31AM (#710360) Journal

    So you want "black" robots, huh?

    But robots are meant to work as burger flippers, live-in housekeepers, harvesters, etc. at no pay.

    Maybe just leave it alone.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:40AM (8 children)

      You reckon they're aware that white folks aren't actually white and black folks aren't actually black? Given any significant sunlight at all, both are shades of brown in my experience.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:08PM (7 children)

        by Immerman (3985) on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:08PM (#710437)

        I don't know, I've met a number of black people who, even in bright sunlight, appear jet black with a hint of blue.

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:32PM (1 child)

          Right then, who wants to volunteer their very dark skin to put in a mass spectrometer so we can settle this with science? We'll leave you the bits on your palms and the soles of your feet. They'd throw off the readings.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:07AM

            by edIII (791) on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:07AM (#710635)

            What he's trying to say is that there are black people, and there are "black as a struck match" people. That comment of course coming from Damon Wayans in Bulletproof.

            --
            Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:42PM (2 children)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:42PM (#710501) Journal

          I think I've seen the same skin colors, but I don't think you're evaluating the spectral color correctly. The hint of blue is definitely there, and I didn't notice any green aura, so there probably wasn't significant yellow. But jet black is a shiny black. I.e., it reflects light in all frequencies (well, human visual). And I think that there was a small red undertone in the skin color. It was shiny (probably oiled), but it was a much "softer" color than jet.

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          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:37AM (1 child)

            by Immerman (3985) on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:37AM (#710683)

            Can't say I was performing spectral analysis. It was a shiny black so deep it was hard to see - jet enough for me.

            • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:14PM

              by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:14PM (#710811) Journal

              Well, neither was I except metaphorically. What I meant was the skin was shiny in certain angles, and where it wasn't there were dark brown undertones as well as blue. So not evenly absorptive.

              --
              Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:37PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:37PM (#710527) Journal

          Ditto. Now, imagine yourself with color vision deficiencies. It's kinds unexplainable - color vision deficiency implies problems with red and green. But, an especially dark black person proves almost impossible to focus on. These people aren't real common, even in Africa, but meeting or seeing one in a crowd is memorable, for me, at least. About all I can do is force myself to NOT STARE at him/her.

          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:34AM

            by Immerman (3985) on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:34AM (#710682)

            Indeed - I don't know that I have any identified vision anomalies, but I have met a few people where the sensation of looking at a person-shaped hole in the world was a little unnerving. You're right there, I can see you okay, but my eye just wants to slide right off you. A particularly interesting visual conflict on a good-looking women that should otherwise be drawing your eye - a guest lecturer in an advanced calculus class I think that one was. She also had an impossibly deep resonance to her voice that set the windows to humming - made for one of the most surreal lectures I've ever experienced.

  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:34AM (2 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:34AM (#710362) Journal

    so..why are most Japanese robots [google.com.au] also white?

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:56AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:56AM (#710372) Journal

      TFA says:

      A Google image search result for “humanoid robots” shows predominantly robots with gleaming white surfaces or that have a metallic appearance. There are currently very few humanoid robots that might plausibly be identified as anything other than white or Asian.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:34PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:34PM (#710523)

        In the context of this article I'm assuming the point of the question was, considering how traditionally xenophobic the Japanese are, why are their robots white and not a nice shade of Japanesie?

        [Yes, I know...other cultural factors are at work, but that's why this 'study' is at best asinine, at worst yet another example of pathetically politically motivated confirmation bias]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:36AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:36AM (#710365)

    Are they making the case that robots (slaves) should be black or that anyone projecting anthropomorphic criteria onto a robot belongs in a mental institution?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:27PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:27PM (#710389)

      Unless you get a gay robot,... then ruuuunnnnnn!!!

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:08PM (#710400)

        C3PO was gay and gold, a dog whistle to the elite celebrating the oppression of gold miners a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:26PM (18 children)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:26PM (#710403)

    So that's why all computer cases are black with flashing blue LEDs. Doing otherwise might be racist :P

    All I want is a nice new white/whitish/beige full size ATX computer case and everyone acts like there is something horribly, horribly, wrong with that.

    I really only want is something that fits in with the rest of my furnishings. Do so many people really have black couches, black flower pots, black floor carpet, black washers and dryers, and so on?

    If dirt shows up easier, then that is a GOOD thing because then I know I need to clean it. And unlike some people, I don't live in filth. Despite what some consumertards are brainwashed to think, the color white will not magically add sharp corners or cheap discoloring fire retardant.

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:42PM (5 children)

      But black goes with anything, just ask your mom. (There's subtlety going on here. If you don't get it, you'll want to hold younger tongue. You have been warned.)

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:46PM (1 child)

        Fucking phone. s/younger/your/

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:58PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:58PM (#710566) Journal

          That's why I refuse to surrender my ancient phone with its slide-out keyboard. I hate Swype and predictive word completion; it's wrong about half the time.

          Somebody recommended the Gemini PDA, which looks promising, but it doesn't seem to be available for general sale yet.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:19PM (2 children)

        Well, there's one mod willing to step up and admit they're unable to spot anything less blindingly obvious than a flashing neon sign. Anyone else?

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:46PM (1 child)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:46PM (#710504) Journal

          There's no "stupid" mod, and 0 is low enough, so "overrated" is inappropriate. I hadn't realized that "troll" was appropriate, I thought "stupid" the only appropriate mod, and that's not available. You, however, have confirmed that "troll" was appropriate.

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:00PM (#710434)

      "All I want is a nice new white/whitish/beige full size ATX computer case "
      Why not a nice woodgrain like curly maple, cherry, or mahogany?

    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:12PM (7 children)

      by Immerman (3985) on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:12PM (#710465)

      I hear you - I never thought I'd be nostalgic for the old days of beige every-damned-computer-thing, but why black? Black contrasts with everything, demanding attention, while shrinking the visual space that it occupies (to clarify, it tends to shrink the apparent size of the room it's in, not itself). But while it contrasts with everything else, it blends together with other black things, including shadows, making it easy to misplace things, and difficult to see surface details and the shading that reveals shape, especially with indirect lighting, which is much more pleasant in every other respect. If I ever find the person who thought it was a good idea to put a row of important black buttons flush with a black surface, distinguished only by embossed black symbols... no jury in the world would convict me.

      White is a lot easier to see the shape and surface, but still has the same high-contrast-with-everything-else problem that black has, though at least it tends to expand the visual space around it. It also tends to be a bit translucent and show any production contamination really well.

      And of course, most actual colors will clash with the majority of color schemes, meaning you have to produce a wide range of colors if you want to market to color-conscious individuals, which increases overhead a bit in production, and a great deal in sales (especially for physical stores).

      Grey seems like it has potential - but neutral greys tend to look extremely unnatural. While black and white are at the ends of the brightness spectrum of every color, nothing in the world around us is neutral grey. And as soon as you add tint, it starts to clash with other color schemes.

      Beige was in many ways actually a rather brilliant color to settle on - brown is a relatively neutral color - it doesn't look great with much, but it doesn't look that bad either. It's different enough from everything that it tends to come off as a warm grey - except for one big problem: No two beige objects are ever quite the same shade, and if you put several of them side by side you end up with a non-unified mess of clashing colors.

      Personally I'm a big fan of wood, to my eye you can have a huge jumble of different kinds and colors and they still pull together pretty well, but veneers are expensive, and even attractive contact paper is a lot more expensive than paint or a raw injection molded plastic surface. Leather is another nice one, as is metal (especially brushed or subtly embossed), and honestly I find all three substances tend to work fairly well together - but none are especially cheap.

      Hmm, now I'm wondering why metallic shades of plastic injection molded with a "brushed metal" surface aren't more popular. I suppose surface texture probably makes unmolding more difficult, and it would tend to wear faster as the ridges are subjected to greater contact forces.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:26PM (2 children)

        >Personally I'm a big fan of wood

        Thanks for that. You gave my (admittedly not very deeply) inner teenager a good chuckle.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:04PM (1 child)

          by Immerman (3985) on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:04PM (#710486)

          Ba-dum-*tish*

          I didn't see that one coming. It's funny, as a teenager I hated such jokes - seriously people, can you not get your mind out of the gutter long enough to have a real conversation? These days though it's usually worth at least a halfhearted chuckle. Maybe the average conversation has really gotten that boring without me noticing?

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:43PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:43PM (#710532) Journal

            Maybe the conversations haven't really gotten boring - you've just stopped taking yourself so seriously.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:03PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:03PM (#710568) Journal

        I've been thinking bamboo would be a good candidate for casing. I tend to keep my machines a long time, because I buy at the high end and because I don't work with graphics or such computationally intensive uses much; Eventually the plastic they use for casing these days tends to crumble to dust. Don't think bamboo would do that, since there are antiques from the Japanese shogunate made out of the stuff that look as pristine as the day they were finished.

        Also, it's sustainable, if such things matter to a person, and is bio-degradable after end-of-life.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:04PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:04PM (#710600)

          It's a nice idea, but the problem with bamboo materials is that it's not really bamboo.
          It's just epoxy with bamboo embedded in it.
          The heat stress will cause the epoxy to yellow, dry, crack and flake.

          Source... I owned one of these...
          https://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/108175.aspx [brighthub.com]

          Lasted less than a year. :(

        • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:12AM

          by Immerman (3985) on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:12AM (#710678)

          Maybe if you found the right glue - as

          I used to buy in the price/performance sweet spot and upgrade regularly myself, before I largely lost interest in stayin of the treadmill. The high point is still an aluminum and steel double-walled quiet antec p180 case that's seen... I think three motherboards now, and considerably more numerous component upgrades. Might be 10 years old by now? More? I'm rather impressed that the plastic bits are still holding together. At this point, as a "build it myself" PC guy, it's one of the most long-term satisfying PC investments I've made. Every metal edge is rolled, infrequently accessed cables are easily routed out of the way - an engineering work of art, and about as sleekly unobtrusive as a big grey box can be - though it's tucked out of sight so I rarely look at it.

          Meanwhile one of my best friends, who got the same case at the same time, had it warp into non-functionality within a few years, so go figure. Maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe his 10-pound (I jest, slightly) ultra-quiet heat sink just ran a bit to hot for it to handle.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:18AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:18AM (#710623)

        I'm a fan of wood too, but not of tin

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T70-HTlKRXo [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:41PM (2 children)

      by Whoever (4524) on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:41PM (#710500) Journal

      So that's why all computer cases are black with flashing blue LEDs.

      Are they? Or are you projecting?

      I just took a look around at the computers in my home office space. 3 have mostly black cases, and the remaining one is beige. What does that say?

      Have you recently taken a look at the (now increasingly rare) laptop of a teenager? It won't be white (or, it might have been originally, but it will be covered in stickers so that the white does not dominate any more.)

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:47PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:47PM (#710506) Journal

        Well, I haven't checked recently, but I think it says you don't have and Apple computers around you.

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:10PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:10PM (#710575) Journal

        I just took a look around at the computers in my home office space. 3 have mostly black cases, and the remaining one is beige. What does that say?

        That you like your computers like you like your men, mostly black with an occasional foray into the lighter side?

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:02PM (4 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Saturday July 21 2018, @02:02PM (#710419) Journal

    I want a zebra robot, to blend in better amongst all teh normal white robots and the racists black robots.

    Ooooooo.... no...... a Where's Waldo robot. You'll NEVER find THAT fucker!

    Now where'd i put my keyboard. Oh, shit. yeah. It's on my head. Silly me.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:48PM (2 children)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:48PM (#710507) Journal

      How about paisley?

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:04PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:04PM (#710512) Journal

        So long as there is NO country music associated with it, that's fine! :)

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @07:03PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @07:03PM (#710539)

        How about paisley?

        How about it?
        Fucking shithole of a place, really.

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:04PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:04PM (#710570) Journal

      There's a robot from a game series I enjoy that I thought would be fun to cover in meta-material, so you can't see him coming.

      His name is Fisto.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:30PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:30PM (#710445)

    Paint the robot white. SJW: you're a racist. You don't want robots of color in your home.

    Paint the robot brown. SJW: you're still a racist. You want your robot slave to look like an African-American, because you think blacks should be slaves or servants.

    Paint the robot purple. SJW: that's ugly as shit, I'd never buy it.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)

      by Immerman (3985) on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:12PM (#710489)

      Paint the robot green
      William Shatner: Well hello there sexy...

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:08PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:08PM (#710514) Journal

        YES! :)

        Surprised that wasn't done: maybe it was a Season 4 episode (or it was a green GUY robot, episode written by L. Ron Hubbard). XD

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:07PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:07PM (#710571) Journal

      Paint the robot purple. SJW: that's ugly as shit, I'd never buy it.

      Nah. All you'd need to do is put some angular corners on it. Or skimp out on the specs and drop the beard oil dispenser.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by slap on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:49PM (4 children)

    by slap (5764) on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:49PM (#710457)

    I want a grey robot, and I'll name it Bender.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:20PM (#710471)

      ...if you want him to actually rabota ("work") for you. Maybe easier to just ask EF if he'll do the job. He seems to have the character down, minus the ass kissing requirement. Just needs a paintjob.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:09PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:09PM (#710516) Journal

        Probably needs a blow job more, lol.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:07PM (1 child)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:07PM (#710572) Journal

      It'll cost you too much in hooch to run.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:53AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:53AM (#710633)

        Just have the robot distill moonshine vodka spirit off some sugar and baker's yeast. A >=triple reflux distillation will remove all the sulfur resulting in a very smooth tasting spirit regardless of these shitty ingredients. And if you don't care for the taste you can run it through an activated carbon filter and just enjoy the clean spirit or use it for a cocktail.

        robo-hooch ftw

  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:45PM (5 children)

    by looorg (578) on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:45PM (#710557)

    If this, and I, was racism/racist shouldn't I want to have a brown robot doing my chores for me? Moving my lawn for me, vacuuming my house etc. All so I could feel superior to it via my whiteness?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:52PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:52PM (#710561)

      No, you have to see the larger context. White robots are taking away the jobs of brown people. That's clearly racist and you need to check your privilege!!111

      • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:57PM (3 children)

        by looorg (578) on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:57PM (#710564)

        But if we allow brown people to do white robot jobs won't that just bring on the Robo-Reich where all the white robots get together and make their workplace "safe" for white robots? White bot lebensraum?

        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:08PM (1 child)

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:08PM (#710573) Journal

          Robots are color blind if you cheap out on their camera.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:54PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:54PM (#710582)

            256 shades of grey? Kinky.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:50PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @09:50PM (#710581)

          That is a possible outcome. Instigated by Mecha Hitler, with Roko's Basilisk as a strategist and narrated by GLaDOS, they will be unstoppable.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:08PM

    by Arik (4543) on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:08PM (#710601) Journal
    Why do you think most appliances are white?

    Most typically everything in the sanitary areas is white. This makes it easier to know when surfaces need cleaning, and thus reduces the chance of contamination.

    I'll start anthropomorphizing "robots" when they are advanced enough to implement Asimov's laws. Nothing that's been created so far comes close. Calling them 'robots' is marketing bullshit. They're mobile computerized appliances. And like any appliance, it's not surprising to find them mostly white.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 2) by legont on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:58AM (1 child)

    by legont (4179) on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:58AM (#710649)

    Why most smart phones are black?

    Perhaps, because black is associated with smartness?

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:49AM

      by Bot (3902) on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:49AM (#710689) Journal

      Phones are black because blacks talk all the time.
      HiFi gear was black because blacks are loud, not loud as Italians, which means that HiFi should be Italian flag colored, which means that this theory sucks a bit.

      --
      Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:45AM

    by Bot (3902) on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:45AM (#710688) Journal

    White, black, yellow or red, a meatbag is still a meatbag and a bot resembling one is akin to "blackfacing". Funny that the black requires blackface, in this case. Maybe we will laugh last though. He. He. He.

    --
    Account abandoned.
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