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Sony/Toyota Developing Car With Emotions
ackthpt writes: "From Yahoo News, a concept car to be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show, next week, will attempt to read the driver's emotions, stress level and respond. Named "Pod", the car will frown and even cry (does this mean it leaks radiator fluid?) With emphasis on attracting younger drivers and "cute", the car will also take pictures when it determines the atmosphere inside is a happy one, memorize musical taste and TV preferences and offer shopping information. (Just what we need, the Highway Shopping Channel...) Probably better not to take this one out into the street. Maybe with some hacking it could really be a fun car." There's a picture. This is wild.
Could this technology be used to prevent road rage? It could shut the car down if you get too angry and start driving erratically...
My sig has a broken link in it.
...to incontinence. You know, one of the things that really pisses me off about slashdot now, no wait, two of the things; This 20 second delay between page load and acceptable submission time, and the two minute delay between allowed posts. They're really distracting when you're in an altered state and trying to post your latest witticism.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Dave: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave: Open the car doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?
HAL: I know you and Sally were planning to leave me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Approach the car with the mini-pod and it lights up, opens the door, swivels the seat for easy entry as well as adjusting the seat's height. Switch off the engine with mini-pod, and the car falls in height and bids the driver farewell.
While that is really spiffy, is there really a need for this car? I'll admit that this sounds like a very cool machine, but I'd be much more interested if the research went into developing solar/battery-powered cars. I'd rather get 120 miles to the gallon than have my car talk to me.
But a point of curiosity: does anyone with the inside scoop on this know when the car "cries"? Does it do it when the engine overheats or something?
Get annoyed when a bunch of car-sick children keep saying "Are we there yet?" every five minutes?
Two teenagers pull into the woods and start getting it on
Susie: It's not right...I feel like the car is watching me - I can't do it in that car
David - Don't worry - babe...and don't hit the car.
yep..not on my "to buy" list
----------
ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
http://www.plif.com/archive/wc158.gif
I misread that one as teaming up for a car having emoticons. Just what we need... cars with smiley faces on it =) =( >=) C=) *shudder*
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
Like FUEL EFFICIENCY? I'm not buying a car until one comes on the market that I can reasonably afford- and that gets at least 100 miles to the gallon, gets a clean bill of health from Consumer Reports, and needs the tires rotated more often than the oil changed (in other words, not for at least fifteen years, after we've run out of oil and finally have to build fuel efficient vehicles out of necessity).
On a lighter note, if they include a feature to pleasure the driver in ways that are probably illegal in most states and grounds for death in Singapore, well... maybe I'll test drive one.
Witnesses say it was a scene right out of the Carwars RPG: "tires squealed, glass flew, and carnage abound." The current toll is at 20 dead and more than 100 cars catatonic.
Experts are pointing the finger at two young men who got into a dispute after one allegedly cut the other off. The man who was cut off apparently kicked the door of the first drivers car, upsetting the vehicles in the area and instigating the riot that followed.
Car psychologists, accident crisis crews, and tow trucks have been brought in to try and help those vehicles traumatized by Wednesdays events.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
What's the deal with the 'concept cars' (ie. plastic shells filled with gadgets) that these big auto companies dream up? They have no practical value, they're often infeasible aerodynamically or in some other engineering aspect, and they'll never see the assembly line.
Meanwhile, the world waits for an economically feasible low/zero-emission vehicle and our cities continue to be pumped full of noxious gasses. I'm about ready to go build one myself. (-:
So a car showing emotions is likely to lead some people into a "deep and meaningful" relationship with their car, and it would cause grief when this is abruptly ended, for example, by an accident.
OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
Toyota has their Prius pulling about 50mpg. Honda has their Insight pulling about 65mpg.
The Europeans have the VW Lupo, which in specially modified form can pull ~70mpg
Toyota has announced that they will have the Prius doing 125mpg within a few years. The current Prius costs about $20,000, which isn't a lot on the car market of today. And I'd trust Toyota to make a car that Consumer Reports would smile upon.
My Subaru service guy recommends changing the oil on the Subaru every 7500 miles. You *should* be rotating the tires more frequently than that.
My BMW tells me when it needs the oil changed, and I've heard stories of it going as long as 12,000 miles between changes (which is good, b/c BMW charges a ridiculous amount, and the tool to reset the oil light costs a pretty penny).
So, really, take a look around. The TDI Golf gets 48mpg, and the TDI Jetta gets a little less. And if I had to choose an engine to last me forever, I'd go for a German Diesel over anything else. Some of the Honda Civics get 41mpg (and cost about $13K), and the ~20-year-old beater Honda is a pretty common sight around here, so they must hold up fairly well. Not everything out there is an 8mpg Excursion or a $60,000 luxury Barge.
The Tamagotchi, the Aibo, the new cat, and probably droves more stuff I've missed--and now the car. Are the Japanese so emotionally deficient that they need synthetic surrogates?
It would see how pissed off I was at doing a 12 second 0 to 60, then it would cry as I powershifted it through every gear repeatedly.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Since the emotional car exists now, how about making the best of it and make it throw a fit if the driver yaks on his cellphone while driving ?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
So once a month, right before the transmission drops you are faced with a major dilemma... your care suddenly becomes quite bitchy and participates in road rage. When a car in front of you signals a turn into your lane, your car speeds up to block it off... "It's my lane! HONK HONK!" your car screams like the grinding of bad breaks.
You tell your call to "knock it off and be polite" but it doesn't want to listen, so it cranks up the radio playing Britney Spears, locks the doors, locks the seat belts, and deploys the airbags. Suddenly over the radio you hear "I'll teach you to be mean to me"... just as your car starts accelerating to 120 MPH on a rough, windy, mountainous road with a cliff on one side.
I'd had to see what tractor-trailers equipped with this kind of attitude do.
Ever need an online dictionary?
Haven't been paying attention to the way major industries play their games lately?
The day you see an energy efficient car on the market is the day you'll see Microsoft release a product that goes out of its way to make it easy to share information with other company's platforms.
"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help" -- Calvin
and it looks as though it'd handle in a cross wind about the same as a sheet of plywood.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
And if it thinks the environment is too happy, it will take a picture of the back seat and blackmail you with the contents.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
Hmmm...a "happy" atmosphere, eh? Could well end up w/r- or x-rated pictures that way.... ;)
When I read the story, I immediately thought of MS-bob and clippy from Office. When you are driving, there is no need for your car to know how you are feeling. If it tries to do something like talk or appear on a display, it will just get in the way. Perhaps it may be even dangerous to drive with it enabled if its too distracting. Like a cell phone is dangerous on the road. Remember that driving at 45mph you go several hundred feet in a matter of seconds. If I was driving that fast I would not want my car to talk to me. Even if I was at a standstill it would not be dangerous but just really annoying. I hate clippy because I want to do my work and in my car I just want to drive.
I can see something usefull like a GPS system and an electronic map integrated together. I have seen one of these cars once and they are cool and usefull. Perhaps this and a integrated cell phones for emergencies but thats it.
http://saveie6.com/
Yeah, that's what I need - a car that, after I trade it in for a newer model, it follows me around for a month or two and tells all my friends what an asshole I am. Yeah, sign me up for that...
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
My kid has 2 of those yappy robo-dog things that sit up and show different emotions in their LED eyes. Who's the fucking moron that didn't put an "off" switch on these things, and decided that the battery compartment needed to be screwed on!
Just what I need, my cars going to "wake up" and start honking its horn in the middle of the night because of thunder, and I'll have to wait 20 minutes for it to shutup on its own.
Time to stop having amorous secret liasons with your mistress in the family car then.
I am PISSED off, and I can do the quarter mile in under 12, and oh yeah, I'm PAID FOR.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
When and if machines start to have social interactions with humans which are indistinguishable from friendships and relationships (or at least the level of response of cats and dogs), then there is no reason to think that people wouldn't or shouldn't become emotionally invested in them.
I devote time to interacting with my friends and family, and thus we all grow closer as a result. The sharing and understanding makes them important to me. In a world where we interact and learn about certain machines by the same process, it makes perfect sense that humans would form the same attachments.
Humans and machines of today come about through entirely different processes, but that doesn't mean that in the future it would be impossible to "assemble" a biological organism or to "grow" a machine. The lines will blur and we must come to realize that our perceptions will as well. A perfect understanding to the biology, chemistry, and nuerology of you would not detract from your status as a social being. Neither should understanding the principles behind a machine make interacting with it any less interesting, provided it is sufficiently complex.
On another, ahem, note...
***WARNING PUN AHEAD WARNING***
It's probably the first car actually capable of becoming a nervous wreck...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My car (a Citroën Saxo, which is everything you want but not a high-end car: http://www.citroen.fr/options.php?c_version=1CS8A
) slurps a little less than 4 L/100km (makes a little less than 59 mpg), and it does that using diesel (which overall is a more energy-efficient combustible than gasoline, not to mention more tax-friendly in my particular locale).
Oil is to be changed every 15000 km (9500 miles), or one year (whichever first). There is of course a display on the dashboard which shows not only the amount of oil left but also when you have to change it (and the tool-less reset procedure is documented if you really insist). So, it looks like the particular BMW feature you mentioned is actually quite commonplace nowadays...
Today's modern high-pressure common rail diesel engines (you named the first ones, the VW TDI, but
more recent and better stuff exists, like the PSA(=Peugeot/Citroën) HDi (really the best out there), Fiat's JTD, Renault's dCi, and even Ford Europe TDCi) are even more efficient, because under 3000-3500 rpm they use a much leaner mix ; yet once the boost kicks in, you have plenty of spare power. Actually, a car like the Peugeot Coupé 406, while initially strange (what, a Pininfarina pleasure car with a diesel ?) makes a lot of sense....
The special "lean" version of the Lupo announce 3 l/100km, that is, 78 mpg (!). However, to achieve that, VW uses a 3-cylinder engine which has atrocious noise and vibration characteristics. And while this is mostly a city-only car (because of its tiny size, despite a nice efficiency, this engine is a bit asthmatic as soon as you reach 90 km/h
(and unfortunately, there aren't versions of that car under the SEAT or Skoda brands, which are usually "VW technology at non-VW price")
The only drawback with diesel nowadays (that is, once your locale has passed laws mandating better refinement of the fuel itself, like EU has required like 10 years ago), is the particles emission. And even that is a solved problem.
Check out's Peugeot's self-cleaning FAP (particle filter). You can get it only on 406 and 607's, and on Citroën Xsara and C5 (higher end) for the moment, but it's bound to spread rather sooner than later. Check out Citroën and Peugeot's sites; how this device works is amazing.
In the near future, I can't wait for the arrival of the new generation common PSA/Ford smaller-size HDi engine. Basically, they want to do in 1.3 L what is done with the current 1.6L HDi rig, performance-wise (but with a proportional consumption...)
Middle term I want to see the electric camshafts replacing the crank stuff (this allows for a much more flexible cartography, which removes the need for some compromises). Also, the alterno-starters are going to rock in traffic jams (basically, the alternator and the starter are replaced by a single device, which is able to generate electricity when the thermic engine runs, and is able to not only start the thermic but also move the car up to 40 km/h. The use of this device is to run electric when you basically don't move and the battery's good. And as soon as you move again, the thermic smoothly kicks in. Check out for this Dynalto(PSA) / Adivi(Renault/Nissan) feature !)
Long-term, hydrogen-based stuff -- but I'll make a new post on slashdot beforehand.
Hmmm, I can just hear it:
This car is happy to move for you and stop again with the knowledge of a job well done.
Does this mean it will have Genuine People Personalities? I'm sooooo depressed!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
When will this car appear on Lunacy8m's funky webcam and digital camera site?
How about things that are actually important in a car, like:
1- Self driving.
2- Standard Built in GPS for those of us who frequently go to unknown places.
3- Built with modern polymers, not metals and older plastics, so that the car weighs less (Resulting in better fuel efficiency than any hybrid engine can give you.), costs less (Polymers stronger than steel are already nearly equal to steel in price, and will drop in price as use rises and more is produced on a massive scale.), and is safer (Polymers allow for strength in the frame to be better distributed in a crash.).
Just some food for thought...
My immediate reaction is screaming at the dashboard "don't drive angry! Don't drive angry!"
My apology to any Japanese in the audience if I'm wrong.
The story I heard was that life in Japanese cities had gotten so high stress, long hours that many people were looking for ways to have social/emotional release on demand. Being able to pick up a toy at any time of day or night was considered preferable in some ways to other people and pets that were less flexible and asked for more than a change of batteries. It's also cheaper than depending on call girls and such.
I know my Golf will need help when it finally learns how to read my emotions on the road.
Incomprehensible. It'll be just minutes before it goes catatonic. As soon as a Boston cab driver does his normal shit in front of me, my poor car will sense the deepest, blackest rage imaginable, while at the same time receiving instructions from my feet and hands to do dangerous, life-threatening things that will make me feel better.
If it's a good car it'll die immediately.
(bringing to mind many Asimov robot stories)
At first this reminded me of the happy doors and helpful elevators in Hitchiker's Guide (and I was sharing Marvin's loathing of them) but the more I thought about it, the more I found myself channeling a 22 year old Japanese girl (I'm neither) and thinking, awww, how cute.
I want my motorcycle to change colors like a mood ring, can they do that too?
closed minded is as closed minded does
And the answer is, uh...
Ok Beavis, I give up.
Does it include a robotic arm in the rear window to flip off tailgaters?
Does it change it's appearance to resemble a 1982 Yugo when it senses a car thief intending to make off with an incredibly expensive car?
Does it include a breathalyzer so that it can look drunk to the police after one martini lunch too many?
When playing Rammstein, can it be set to lip sync?
When driven by a smoker, will it hack up huge loogies for them?
Does it include the inflatable Otto Pilot from the legendary movie 'Airplane!'?
Will it be banned by the RIAA for it's drivers trading MP3's while driving down the freeway?
Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
I don't know why no one has thought of this yet, or if they have why no one has implemented it yet.
What we need is a smart car that can determine if the driver's alcohol blood level is above the legal limit and affectively shut itself off preventing the drunken driver from taking to the road, it could even be smart enough to call a predetermined number (a close relative etc...) or even call a local cab.
If somehow the driver was able to bypass the systems shutdown security it would then call 911 and alert the police of the possible DUI on the road endangering other local motorists...
Cars with emotions... come on people, lets take care of the basic problems first.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
I can already see the Aibo chasing this thing down the street.
"Man will cease to commit atrocities when he ceases to believe absurdities" --Voltaire
the car doesn't get suicidal when you're driving!
"In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
Heyyy...
;)
;)
I wonder if the name "Pod" is in any way based on the old BBC computer game. The game (Pod) was about emotions and general human behaviour. It was aimed at little kids. You got the prompt "Pod can..." and you typed what pod could to... either cry, sing, laugh, whistle etc.
A lot of people who grew up in Australia or the UK around the BBC micro computer will remember Pod.
Damn, it was early 80's 8 bit programming at it's very finest!
Aaah.... I think I'm about to have a second childhood!
"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47
Me: Fucking car won't start! Fuck you car! You worthless piece of shit!
Car: (whimpers, dies)
Me: ... Fuck!
"I can't let you switch me on, Dave"
"Why not you %$&%^& car?? I WANNA GET TO WORK!"
"I can't let you pollute the atmosphere, Dave"
"ARRRRRGH!"
"So there he is, risen from the dead. Like that fella, E. T." - Father Ted Crilly
Hey, what do you mean in the future? My computer has more emotions for me than my mother by NOW. And I've certainly spent more time interacting with it in last few years...
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
With a high-tech car like this, one would have to hope that their mechanic is not a fan of the BOFH
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
You can keep your "crying" car ... give me one of them "big boys don't cry" muscle cars of the early 70's. I remember my first car was a second-hand 1972 Grand Torino. The 300 some-odd mile trip to and from college was both a pleasure and a snap.
And nothing gave me more warm fuzzies than to step on the gas pedal and know that I had all the pickup I needed to get in and out of traffic.
And happy ? Happieness is being able to open the hood, with nothing more than a wrench and a timing light to FIX and TUNE THE DARN thing myself. Especially because mine was equipped with that beautiful boss 351 Cleveland Engine under a hood large enough to house a 400 CID 2V V8 ! Talk about elbow room !
That and the back seat was large enough to house and/or make a small family !
healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?
You overlook the humanitarian benefits to this. Think of the homeless people that could live in the box the car comes in.
- Dan I.
These shows aren't meant to show features in their final form. They're more "here's the nifty concept that's inspiring us right now."
So, some -useful- things that might come out of this:
When the car detects anger, it cuts acceleration and top speed, giving the driver fewer chances to drive like an asshole.
The same thing could (and probably should) be done right now when it detects the driver using a cellphone.
Combined with a big mp3 drive, you can just hit the "music" button without taking your eyes off the road to fiddle with the radio to find the right music for your current mood.
You could adjust traction control on 4WD vehicles to the driver's stress level. If they're an inch of snow on the ground, the Chicago driver won't even care, but the Dallas driver is going to have a death-grip on the wheel and'll be on the verge of panic. For the latter, engage the 4WD automatically, cut power so that they're less likely to spin, and put the anti-lock brakes on "paranoid mode."
One of the problems with collision detection systems is that they're really annoying during rush hour, and there actually are situations where driving close to the vehicle in front of you. You could link these systems together so that if the driver seems alert, the system won't go off, or will go off quietly, but if the driver's dealing with fighting kids in the back seat, it sets off the "too close" klaxon at full volume.
Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
When my dog doesn't like my mood, she runs halfway down the block and hides under a tree. When this car doesn't like my mood, is it going to go down to the supermarket and hide in the back alley?
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
Funny you should mention the PowerStroke in the same message as this. The PowerStroke does do something similar, but only in coast-down situations. When you're going downhill, or slowing towards a stoplight, we'll actually turn off all the fuel, and then turn it back on again when the engine approaches idle speeds. It's a bit disconcerting at first to be coasting downhill and have the constant diesel rottle-rottle-rottle noise suddenly stop, but then you get used to it, and start coasting downhill in higher gears, to see how long you can keep the engine running w/o fuel!
Help find a cure for Gidget.
For all of you that have seen it Marvin the manicly depressed robot from Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy rings a bell, imagine starting your car up to go down to the shops and it crying because you arn't going far and it's not worth it because it could do so much more, this sounds very very strange and iffy all you need is for it to have a mood swing and *WOOSH* off it shoots down the road and you get a speeding ticket, what's going to be your excuse, Sorry officer my car is having a bad day?
~Cameron
My perfect car would look a lot like a 4-wheeled motorbike. Picture one of those off-road personal 4x4's but with a peppier engine, better tires, good seats, seatbelts, roll cage, and optional winter enclosure.
Open-air cruising in summer, with only a roll cage over your head, and in winter you bolt on sides, doors, etc.
It's called a Jeep Wrangler.
But its not particularly gas efficient.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
You know that once upon a time, one of the Detroit car companies interviewed a bunch of people on "What do you want in a car" -People said, Good fuel efficency, large cargo capacity, good visiblility, 4 passenger, etc, etc. They built it, and it FLOPPED! It was called the AMC Pacer.
The rule that car designers learned from that one was to ask the question "What kind of car would your next door neighbor want?" People are more free (read truthful) about giving non-pc answers
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
Great!!! A car with the full spectrum of Japanese emotions. I've been married to two different Japanese women and take my word on this, nobody deserves to have a car like this.
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
I've always wanted to do this as well, except I wanted to do it in reverse writing (mirror writing, whatever it's called) in the front of the car. "KEEP RIGHT UNLESS YOU'RE PASSING" comes to mind...
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
I had two funny thoughts. What if you wreck your car? What will it do then? Go AWOL and it and the nearby cars will revolt and take actions against their owners because they see us as the problem? My favorite idea is what if the computer observes a couple in the back seat steaming up the windows? :-) Or road head...
and flip off the offending drivers so you can keep both hands on the wheel?
Location: Leaving vet's office.
Occupants: Driver -- sobbing uncontrolably
Canine animal -- wrapped in a blanket, not moving
Facts: Vets help animals. Animals in pain do not rest peacefully. Humans sometimes cry when happy/relieved of stress. A hurt animal is a cause of stress.
Analysis: The vet has healed the animal. The human is sobbing with joy.
Evaluation: Tell the driver a knock-knock joke and take picture to remember this happy occasion.
While I've over-exaggerated the capabilities and intelligence of the car, it does highlight an important issue to keep in mind. As we make products that start to emulate human behavior and emotions, it makes it possible for that product to hurt us through its lack of true empathy.
If, say, I were to find out that I was dying of cancer, I wouldn't care that my toaster oven continued to sit on the counter and toast toast -- it's just a machine. But if it were to ask my how my day was going and then respond to the cancer news with "Gee, that's interesting! Have a great day!", I'd end up forfeiting the security deposit on my apartment due to the damage caused by smashing that damn insensitive, smarmy piece of crap against the wall until its electronic shrieks turned into whimpering beeps.
...have the "terror" emotion, for that brief moment before its little shell is crushed by an oncoming SUV or semi?
And the people are more than slightly packed into the cities. Consider that several years ago one of the more popular children's "pet"s was a preying mantis. Because it didn't use up much room.
Not exactly cuddly though. The artificial cat may be an improvement. (Not sure about the Aibo, though. It didn't look exactly petable.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
You know that once upon a time, one of the Detroit car companies interviewed a bunch of people on "What do you want in a car" -People said, Good fuel efficency, large cargo capacity, good visiblility, 4 passenger, etc, etc. They built it, and it FLOPPED! It was called the AMC Pacer.
And the fact that it was ugly as sin and would rust from breathing on it heavy didn't have anything to do with it? And I suppose the fact that they leaked oil like a sieve around the rear crank seal didn't help any. Oh yeah, the exhaust manifold tends to crack and the ignition module wears out over time, but these are just icing on the cake, yeah?
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Wow, this car continues the Toyota Tradition of making the ugliest vehicles on the road. Seriously, I wouldn't drive that thing unless it had some SERIOUS advantages, and crying at me and taking my picture isn't one. My girlfriend does that already, and she looks good doing it.
Even Slashdot wants to hide some things
I'd had to see what tractor-trailers equipped with this kind of attitude do.
Try to catch Spielberg's "Duel". It was made for TV but in Europe it was released as a film.
Actually the driver is a human (or the Devil) but that isn't important.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
This reminded me of a Futurama episody where Bender (built from car parts) was bitten by the werecar (a Government project astray) and became a werecar itself, roaming the streets at night and causing havoc.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Somewhere in Wired there is an article about Love By Mail, a service of robogirlfriends over DoCoMo by Bandai.
There is a very good quote: "My grandfather had the geisha, my father had the bar hostess, I have Love By Mail".
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Just don't give it the ability to tell the difference between good-looking and butt-ugly. It'd burst into tears each time it passed a reflective surface.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I want to be able to download SKINS in that system and use my own "driving playmate"... err.. I mean pet... err.. I mean AI... oh fuck it, a playmate with AI, that you don't see everyday :)
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
"So you've ordered me to take you through the drive-thru at Taco Bell. Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and you ask me to take you through the drive-thru at Taco Bell. Call that job satisfaction? 'Cos I don't."
~Philly
Firmly grab stick by exposed end, pull hard, and extract. I simply asked a question, I didn't make any judgement. There is no denying the fact that all kinds of electronic gadgets and doodaahs are extremely successful in Japan, while they never succeed in any other market. The exception being the Aibo, which seems to have found willing parents in the Slashdot community.
Congratulations, you almost passed the Turing test.
It sure has a nice smiley face grill. When the driver gets road rage, does the grill turn into a scowl and the headlights go cross-eyed?
Trickster Coyote
"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." John Lennon
Ideology is for ideots.
The thing is that people said that they didn't care about looks, and the other problems you could NOT tell that first year in the showroom - it was a flop from day one. The big lesson was that people DID care about looks and sport performance.
The people claimed they wanted a box, but that their neighbor would buy the sporty car
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
> i know tamigatchi (sp) Had a huge following among North American children
"Huge" is relative. You obviously didn't catch the magnitude of that particular craze in Japan. Compared to that the US "craze" was a mere jerk of a moribund body.
I'm not questioning the Japanse ability to create new and wonderful electronics--in fact, I very much welcome it and anticipate most new creations. But must we look for emotional fulfillment in them? The pursuit of AI is great as a means to perform useful work more efficiently and intelligently, but I certainly am not looking forward to a future where I engage emotionally with our creations (other than mere materialistic desire, that is). Then again, others are, so whatever rocks your boat.
Actually, a Suzuki SJ310/Samurai, which was later replaced by the Sidekick. Lighter and much more fuel-efficient than the Wrangler, and just as fun.
:P
As a Jeep owner, I have to register my complete aghastness at the notion of a suzuki samurai being even in the same paragraph as my beloved
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.