What Would You Do? Bike Theft (White Guy, Black Guy, Pretty Girl)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Used in threads on bias and social engineering as a vivid example of how bystanders treat different thieves.
What it is
A hidden-camera social experiment in a park where three people try to steal a bike in the open: a white teenager, a black teenager and a young woman. It records how bystanders react to each.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2013 to 2018.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec SomeCallMeTim · 2016-05 · on “The Liberal Blind Spot”
> If you are white and male, for example, then you are seen as privileged because, statistically, white males have more wealth and power. No. If you are white and male, you've experienced more invisible privilege than you realize. [1] It's not about wealth, but it is about power -- power over others. Questions: * White man says that black woman stole something from him. What will happen? * White woman says that black man stole something from her. What will happen? * Black man says that white woman stole something from him. What will happen? * Black woman says that white man stole something from her. What will happen? What were your honest, visceral, reactions to each of these statements? Wer
Recommends fleitz · 2013-09 · on “Bitlock replaces your bike key with your phone”
As always social engineering works far better than tech engineering, watch the guys try and help the girl steal a bike. [this video]
Cites steveklabnik · 2014-07 · on “Show HN: Please Don't Rob Me”
Two relevant videos. This guy attempted to 'steal' his own bike in NYC: [LINK] There's also this one. First, a white guy. Then, a black guy. Finally, a woman: [this video]
Cites wlesieutre · 2015-04 · on “Paris’ $160M Plan to Boost Cycling”
> Surprisingly people assume that someone cutting metal in the street must be the owner Only if you're white. [this video]
Cites sangnoir · 2016-06 · on “Artificial Intelligence's White Guy Problem”
> if men are statistically more likely to be programmers, or black people are more likely to commit crimes (STATISTICALLY), I think you meant black people are more likely to be convicted of crime. The problems with crime 'statistics' is that on the surface, it all seems coldly scientific, yet they are generated and derived via very biased, very human, very unscientific processes - there is a lot of bad data. The ACLU did research that showed that there is no statistically significant difference in the possession of weed between white and black people, yet more black people are convicted[1] for possession. Here's a mind experiment: after watching this YouTube video[2], how skewed do you think
Cites sangnoir · 2018-04 · on “Walking While Black”
I got the link to the video[1], and I misremembered: multiple people offer to help steal the bike on different occcasions, wtf! 1. [this video]