The Hello Experiment on Lean Mean Fighting Machine is a grand stab at the kind of science we all wanted sorted out as a child. Could a blind woman make such a good clay bust of Lionel Richie, and could you do it in the time it takes to listen to “HELLO”? After all the archetype of the blind love-lorn sculptress is one which endures in our society, namely via Tom’s belov’d Fantastic Four comics and Alicia Masters. Notably though she tended to sculpt The Thing, claiming that she alone could see past his monstrous form and see the inner dignity inside. What she actually meant was a bloke made of orange rocks is easier to sculpt than anyone with a normal face.
Anyway, whilst the Hello Experiment is a bold idea, it wholly drops the pretence of real science by having sighted people blindfolded to make the Ritchie bust. Not only is this an insult to the visually impaired, but its made even worse when you can clearly see people peeking under the blindfolds. As gleeful as their reactions are when their sight is MIRACULOUSLY restored, it only illustrates half of the problem that Ritchie original claymaker had. Because being blind, she could not see what he looked like. She got no distractions, but she sculpted by sense of smell. That is probably why these busts are remarkably good. At least some of them are.