SnapChat took some heat for introducing a feature that would replace someone’s face with Bob Marley’s. Whether it’s a large-scale resurgence of “blackface”, which was the point of much media coverage, is but one shocking thing about this.
The other shocking thing is that we are really only moments away, in tech development time, from being able to completely hide how we look on any video. This isn’t just airbrushing, where Cindy Crawford’s mole can disappear or Britney Spears can look young and svelte again.
No, this is entirely made-up visuals in everything from home videos and selfies to hollywood movies to VR headsets. You and your spouse could be Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie when you’re using your VR headsets. I suspect a baby boom would not be far behind.
You can also be someone else when using any video version of Reddit and the like, where cyberbullying and racism is facilitated by everyone being anonymous. I see no reason for that to change when we move from text to video with these technologies. Reality will continue to bend, and social norms will lag technology and contribute to, um, “unusual” and even unfortunate behavior.
Sean Foote's Blog 