The smart contract of CryptoKitties has accounted for nearly 14 percent of the entire Ethereum network’s transaction volume, which is higher than the transaction volume of all other cryptocurrencies in the market combined, including bitcoin.
CryptoKitties is a game centered around breedable, collectible, and oh-so-adorable creatures we call CryptoKitties! Each cat is one-of-a-kind and 100% owned by you; it cannot be replicated, taken away, or destroyed.
- 100% owned by you - Essentially, these are tokens that aren't used as currency, and they've spawned an entire new world of "True Ownership" and "Digital Collectibles". Your proof of ownership is actually tied to the blockchain. This creates a few really interesting opportunities: (1) You own this item beyond this game, meaning you can possibly take it with you to other ecosystems -- spinoffs, alternate gaming universes, etc. and (2) You can now sell this item independent of the game.
- breedable - each CryptoKitty has it's own DNA and how it expresses them physically. Taking this even further, there's a complex algorithm to crossbreed new kitties, complete with dominant & recessive genes, as well as mutations!
- adorable - The internet is cats. Something interesting to me is the joy and love people actually have towards their own CryptoKitties.
The 8 primary cattribute categories are:
Fur / Body Pattern Eye Color Eye Shape / Type Base Color Highlight / Pattern Color Accent / Secondary Color Mouth
Basic Gene Recessive Gene Mutation Mystery, Secret, and Unknown genes
some pythonz and cryptokitties API
- Web Classifier vs. Mechanical Turk
IMO this is where the project gets interesting because there isn't an actual database of criminal kitties. Instead, we get the beautiful opportunity to do shoddy data collection, meaning get our own labels. Instead of real data, I propose we use peoples' gut reactions toward CryptoKitty images. Also let's explore getting ITP to label the data, and compare that with results from mechanical turk. - we essentially did 1 pass on mechnical turk... and the results were surprisingly good! - we explored building our own custom labeler: Cryptokitties Labeler
In second git repo, via Falcon
We hope that our provocative findings generate a range of press coverage.
using cryptokitties as the vector to explore algorithmic bias
the internet is cats! we don't care about labeling humans as criminals (as much as we should) but maybe we'll care more about locking up digital collectible cats
seeing if there's more empathy for them than humans
what is objective? what is biased?
it is reasonable to call it objective, that is, it does not in itself embody biases about facial appearance or criminality
crpytokitties was built to teach blockchain cryptokitty physiognomy was built to teach about "scientific racism" hidden in artificial intelligence and machine learning
Xiaolin Wu and Xi Zhang’s paper, “Automated Inference on Criminality Using Face Images”
Wu and Zhang’s claim is that machine learning techniques can predict the likelihood that a person is a convicted criminal with nearly 90% accuracy using nothing but a driver’s license-style face photo.
The roots of physiognomy lie in the human propensity to interpret a person’s appearance associatively, metaphorically, and even poetically.
The roots of physiognomy lie in the human propensity to interpret a person’s appearance associatively, metaphorically, and even poetically.
The Faception team are not shy about promoting applications of their technology, offering specialized engines for recognizing “High IQ”, “White-Collar Offender”, “Pedophile”, and “Terrorist” from a face image.
What do supposedly “nice” and “mean” faces look like? Research on social perception of faces in the last decade has shown that one’s impression of a face can be reduced to a few basic dimensions, including dominance, attractiveness, and valence. (“Valence” is associated with positive evaluations like “trustworthy” and “sociable”.)
Build that wall? Othering? Story generators?
I've also been spending a lot of time reading about human rights, ethics, and social good. The physiognomy article we read for class really piqued my interest because as junk science as it can be people are actually using it. Perhaps even more troublesome is that beyond the obviously visceral reactions to phrenology, opaque algorithms do encode subtle biases. For example, there are articles floating about claiming self-driving cars do a poor job at detecting dark-skinned pedestrians.
But alas, it seems people avoid these heavy topics.
The physiognomy reading for class is interesting because despite being so wrong, people can still find ways to draw such meaningful conclusions. Many problems abound in the study. Of note:
- There was a not a lot of data (~500 portraits of felons)
- The images were not well-controlled in the experiment
At the same time, our guts tell us that there are interesting questions in the realm of Physiognomy. That is, we believe that they do have some measure of prediction -- e.g. a beautiful (proportional?) person is generally perceived to have an easier life, making the opposite scenario plausible.
- The Anatomy of ERC721 (Non-Fungible Tokens)
- A new study finds a potential risk with self-driving cars: failure to detect dark-skinned pedestrians
- Who Spends $140,000 on a CryptoKitty?
- Celestial Cyber Dimension
- Physiognomy's New Clothes @ Medium
- The CryptoKitties Genome Project @ Medium
- CryptoKitties Genome Mapping
- https://cryptokitties411.com/category/genetics/
- https://www.ccn.com/cryptokitties-isnt-as-popular-as-you-think-it-is
The smart contract of CryptoKitties has accounted for nearly 14 percent of the entire Ethereum network’s transaction volume, which is higher than the transaction volume of all other cryptocurrencies in the market combined, including bitcoin.
- https://medium.com/cryptokitties/the-many-ways-to-value-a-kitty-e286f9e061d1
- https://cryptokitties411.com/2018/01/26/original-artwork/
- https://cryptokitties411.com/category/genetics/
- Normal traits, Recessive traits, Mutations
- (Note: Mutations are separate from the “recessive” genes that have a chance to gene swap into the dominant position.)
- https://www.wired.com/2015/04/people-care-pets-humans/
cyptokitties are meant to be judged by appearance!
- that's part of the magic circle
pricing models
reading into owners -
- based on their penchant for harboring criminals
- this owner harbors criminals!