The machine resembles one of those instant photo booths at the mall, but instead of taking your picture and printing out copies, it displays your face on someone of another race. You can be Asian, black, Middle Eastern, white, Hispanic.
The Human Race Machine, invented in 2000, has appeared at colleges like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Penn State University. It's at Union all this week, adding something different to this year's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Series.
“We thought, ‘What can we do that’s never been down before?’” said Karen Ferrer-Muniz, director of Multicultural Affairs and Campus Diversity. “We wanted something that would really match our generation of students, students who are so visually-driven and technology-based when it comes to learning.”
The Human Race Machine fit the bill perfectly. Using a computerized morphing program, the machine captures your image and then subtly changes your features to fit those of another race. In short, it shows you what you would look like as someone else.
On Monday, the first day the machine was open to the Union community, students like Mayleen Rivera ’11 enjoyed a unique experience.
“When you saw yourself as a different race, it was like, wow,” she said. “I really looked like a real person, a different person.”
During discussion sessions held Monday with Ferrer-Muniz, Senior Director of Campus Diversity Gretchel Tyson, and Director of Counseling Services Marcus Hotaling, people were also asked to talk about their perceptions of race. Individuals were simultaneously engaged in an interactive quiz to convey pertinent information, like the fact that there’s no definitively indentifying trait or gene present in all members of one race and absent in another.
Jessica Strang ’12 found her "facetime" valuable.
“I never thought I could see myself as another race,” she said. “It gives you a unique perspective on things.”
Ferrer-Muniz agrees.
“This is a way of people seeing themselves as someone else, which is perfect for Martin Luther King Day,” she said. “That is what he asked us to do – he wanted us to see ourselves in others.”
The Human Race Machine will be available for use downstairs in the Reamer Campus Center all week. For more information on the machine, click here.