Technology that cares...

[Manoil]

Not enough to suck your dick, per se, but it is willing to comfort you without leaving the relative safety of the friend zone.

Dr. Whippy is an ice cream-serving machine that measures stress in the voice to determine how much to serve to customers. Those who measure as 'worse off' are given a much more gratuitous quantity than those who seem of normal/calm condition.


What are the implications of using stress-testing to measure appropriate purchase quantities? If the vendor isn't charging a set fee, wouldn't those who are in a lowered or worse condition be charged more for the ice cream, which could have potential to make things worse were they expecting a cheaper price?

What about the condition itself; isn't this new genre of emotion-based sales questionable, as those who are in a weak emotional state are inclined to make bad decisions? Obviously it already exists, but isn't this taking it a step further?

Does the system provide our future robot conquerors the necessary research grounds to recognize and catalog human emotions, which could provide them a strategic advantage in their endeavors?

[Caleb]

I see new age food alarms on fridges. Rofl. It'll be interesting to see if bars invest in this equipment...or what would happen if it got hacked...

[MadBill]

Or training yourself to display the proper triggers for the machine to get the response you want. :flesh defeats machine hack:

[POOPERSCOOPER]

You can list a whole number of faults that would happen with a machine like that but it's mostly technical. I'm guessing your trying to go into the deeper meaning of something? You think this stress reading ice cream machine will bring a new era of philosophy and human evolution and a hundred years from now we will be discussing the moral dilemmas of the ice cream johnny 5?

[Retlaw83]

Or training yourself to display the proper triggers for the machine to get the response you want. :flesh defeats machine hack:

That's how I got to spend six hours with that sex robot one time.

And by sex robot, I mean woodchipper.

And by six hours, I mean I need one of you guys to give me a ride to the emergency room.

As for what Manoil posted, I don't want a machine telling me what I think I need. I'm an adult and I can make that decision for myself.

I can't see this technology being anything aside from a marketing gimmick. In applications like emergency management, you'd want a real person instead of the robot. I guess you could make a pretty convincing kid's toy with it, which could select responses based on keywords and how the kid sounds, but it would be an ultimately hollow experience in the long run.

The only practical application I can think of this for is a component in sentient AIs. Let's wait for those to come out.

[Manoil]

And by six hours, I mean I need one of you guys to give me a ride to the emergency room.

I couldn't help but lul. On both subjects, however, I think you'll definitely be in line for Project NATAL's HJ app.

[Smiley]

I think the ice-cream machine is a ridiculous example because it's obvious(as previously stated) that people want more for nothing, so they'll try to circumvent the machine.

As to the idea of machines and technology adapting to our moods, I think it's a creative direction that might end up with something actually useful, but mostly just pointless gadgets.

I read about a prototype car that measured your mood, and in the front and back of the car there was an LED lightboard that changed color depending on it.
So that other drivers could see what mood you're in and be more careful around you.
Also fairly useless, for several reasons, but a better idea at least.

If I had to come up with something, it would be for security(such as in an airport). An extra measure to see how people are feeling going through a checkpoint.
It shouldn't be visible and if possible never be revealed that it's there(because that would effect the outcome).
The point would be to see what measures put people at ease and which made them nervous, or more specificly which made terrorists or hijackers nervous.

You would have a tool for singling out potential threats easier and an analytical tool to see what you could do to put the rest at ease.

Security sort of already does this by looking after obvious signs of agitation etc.

[Caleb]

Demotivators could work as well...kind of like the food fridge alarm..though I think that would just end up in depression/rage

[Blargh]

I doubt I will ever truly comprehend the Fewer Choices School of Design.

[Manoil]

I doubt I will ever truly comprehend the Fewer Choices School of Design.

Well, they do only offer one course of curriculum.

[Tingel Tangel]

This scares me. Immensely.

The idea of a machine 'measuring' my 'need' for something on mathematical calculations of sound waves combined with pre-set dosages of carbohydrates and whathaveyou - I think it lacks a distinct degree of human thought and capacity.

I like the idea of being able to detect possible threats via voice strain and, say, heat levels, for instance? Sort of like my local student bar having an alco-meter to meassure whether or not people have had enough. But at the same time, the thought of emotionally-meassured and dictated purchases disregards human choise - in my opinion.

[Caleb]

in many ways we've proven that we may not deserve choice in some matters sadly.

[Retlaw83]

in many ways we've proven that we may not deserve choice in some matters sadly.

Bullshit. You always deserve to make a choice. Just because you may harm yourself or others with that choice makes you no less deserving of being allowed to make that choice.

Cosmically, even if people choose to do evil things - take your Hitlers and Goatse mans, for example - it elevates others to do good by choosing to stop them. I don't know if I believe in religion in the conventional sense - I can see it both ways - but life experience has taught me that things like karma and the concept of yin-yang have validity. We aren't nearly at this level yet, but I would not one day be shocked to find that we come up with a scientific way to measure the idea of what goes around, comes around.

Removing choice unbalances the system. You can see it with hunters blocking the escape routes of prey. You can see it in any oppressive socialist system, like the Soviet Union or China or Iran. The ability to choose is as integral to any living creature as eating or breathing.

[Caleb]

Oh I generally agree, though at the same time there are very convincing arguments to support that some freely and willingly give up their choices. I am not for control of any sorts really and tend to be labeled an extreme libertarian. I've just witnessed a bit too many people who would freely give up their choice for an easy, convenient, and planned out life without worry

[Retlaw83]

I've noticed the trend you have, Caleb. I've also noticed the people making the choice to give it all up for a measure of security - whether it be with a cult, blindly following the government, etc - are either stupid, uneducated, or scared. Usually it's a combination of two of those three things, because people who are all three are generally too distrustful to hand over the reigns to someone else.

[Manoil]

I dunno, Ret. The "God Warrior" seems to qualify for all three.

[Dogmeatlives]

what is going on here? I am torn as I have said time and time again that I am anti-emotion sensing food machines, but I have also voiced my concerns that humans have too much freedom so I think I'll sit this one out...

[Kashluk]

Positive and negative freedoms, Retlaw. Positive & Negative...

[Retlaw83]

Positive and negative freedoms, Retlaw. Positive & Negative...

Positive and negative dumbs it down too much. There is evil - like committing genocide - and the righteous act of putting an end to it. One is negative, the other positive.

Then you have the freedom to decide between a McDonald's cheeseburger for lunch or to go home and have a salad. Again, negative and positive.

Subscribing to a cosmic scale of things that lumps eating unhealthily and genocide together doesn't sit well with me.

[Manoil]

Then you have the freedom to decide between a McDonald's cheeseburger for lunch or to go home and have a salad. Again, negative and positive.

But that isn't karmic so much as just weighing out two options and their consequences, and what the individual cares about dealing with. Genocide is more like, an endeavor "for great justice!" A Cheeseburger might not be healthy, but it's possible someone just wants that taste, even though they know its bad for the diet. Virtually nobody committing genocide sees it as a choice that, had they chose otherwise, would have wielded only an insignificant difference of outcome. Matterafact... most people committing genocide are under the illusion that they're doing the world justice and can't really cope with the fact that murder is murder, regardless of target.

Perhaps there is a way to recognize choices that we don't see yet. Not always so binary as 'good or bad', or 'positive or negative', but those distinctions, where an individual must make a choice based on morals that affects people beyond his or herself, and choices which outcomes are only measurable in productivity or personal preference. And even then, some of those choices run in the same option-- in which case, it's not even worth considering a choice. Just a habit.