Comment by thinkMOAR | Hacker News Reader

Comment by thinkMOAR | Hacker News Reader

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Genius.... If somebody asks you to explain something, well better just say they are part of the problem and not explain it at all... that will really improve things. Great contribution there.

It is NOT a nude image. It might be a cropped version of a what originally was a nude image, but that doesn't make it a nude image. If i crop you out of a picture, its no longer a picture of you? Now it is just a woman with a hat and a shoulder that is not covered with some fabric. If mentally you instantly see the original picture, perhaps you have 'stared' too long at that playboy issue.

Though the point others make in this thread, i think is very valid, it is not a jigsaw puzzle. I was expecting software for when i visit my mom (who likes making jigsaw puzzles), quickly snap a picture on my phone of the table with all the pieces and it would assist me in solving it while she leaves the table for a bit to make tea/coffee. (leaving mom flabbergasted with: how did you...)

For any curious minds wondering about the provenance of the Lena image, here's a short article written in 1996 by the (at the time) editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. The controversy (and both viewpoints) are summed up quite adequately.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~chuck/lennapg/editor.html

To respond to your point - while you might be technically correct in that the Lena image commonly used today is not a "nude" image per se... are you genuinely saying that you don't understand why some people don't like it - or why it's unpleasant and/or degrading to women in the field? Its provenance is well known, and the very association with Playboy (nudity notwithstanding) is likely enough to irritate or upset women in image processing/computer vision circles (I say this having had personal experience of various -- female -- lecturers at my alma mater disagreeing with the use of the Lena image).

I think you're either intentionally or unintentionally looking to create/perpetuate controversy where there is none. The post you linked mentions itself that most people weren't even aware of the origin of the image, which I think is probably the only thing which may cause it to be offensive towards prudish people in general.

Personally, I find it strictly more offensive that people are outraged on behalf of these supposed women, who are so delicate that the use of a heavily cropped playboy image outrages, offends, or discourages them from a field of study. I think regardless of which image you choose, you'll always find some group of people who are offended by it, and anyone who is offended by an image as tame as this one probably has some growing up to do.

There are several prominent women in CS that I know personally and respect (some of whom are image processing/CV researchers), who find the image sexist and demeaning. I sympathise with their viewpoint and am inclined to agree with them. I'm clearly not looking to create controversy or be offended on other people's behalf - I'm just trying to not be a dick.

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