A Computer Made These Polygon Faces. Warning: Nightmares Ahead. [The Horror]

These images are what happens when you combine a a random polygon generator with a “facial recognition algorithm”.

Which means the generator keeps generating until the recognition algorithm detects a face. Then it keeps running while it tries to automatically improve it. To…mixed results.

In short: it’s a million virtual chimps drawing a million virtual polygons until one of them somehow churns out a face, with no prompting or intervention from a human being whatsoever.

It’s equal parts soothing and terrifying to see.

The program, called pareidolia, is named for the phenomenon Pareidolia, which is “a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant”.

pareidoloop [Site,via prosthetic knowledge, thanks Bill!]

Originally written and published by Luke Plunkett at Kotaku. Click here to read the original story.