Slashdot Mirror
Mood-Sensing Computer
handy_vandal writes "'A team at Vanderbilt University is ... developing a robotic assistant whose goal is .. [to] respond to the moods of its human master.' For use on the battlefield -- e.g. when a soldier is overcome with anxiety."
iMac's that change color based on your mood? That's clever marketing.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Sir, it seems the entire 3rd Division is feeling a little anxious.
You will also note that most of the Marines in the 187th Expeditionary Force are also nervous about their impending landing.
Lastly sir, the pilots have... the heebee jeebies.
Impending War/Risk of painful death == anxiety
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
hi, i'm Hal, and i'm really sorry your windows box got hacked. want a beer?
I don't know about you guys but if I am having a panic attack the last thing I want to do is talk to anyone. You just want to get out of where you are, fight or flight. Having a robot asking me questions about how I feel really wouldn't ease any of my anxiety. Although a nice feature would be for the robot to dispense some xanax.
"It looks like you're trying to take cover under enemy fire. Do you need some help taking cover?"
"Einstein argued that [...] God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." ~ Brooks
If it can cater to that need ... then it is DEFINANTELLY slashdot worthy and should be expanded to a market far wider than the military.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
It'd be sad when one day your computer will be telling you, "I'm not in the mood, I have a headache."
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
So when you're drunk it can stop you from driving.
And if you're really drunk it can keep you from calling exgirlfriends.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Computer: "Sir, I have noticed you are feeling a little horny today, and have downloaded some pr0n for you..."
User: "Gah!...How many times do I have to tell you???! I only looked at the dwarf stuff once out of curiosity."
Computer:"Sir I notice you are becoming slightly irritated.... perhaps a wank will calm you down? Observe the dwarf pr0n.... Observe the dwa.. #clik#
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
People that don't experience anxiety or fear in combat are either (a) too stupid to know better...which means they'll probably be dead soon or (b) are probably clinically insane.
Now, don't get me wrong -- combat is the most intense adrenaline rush that you can possibly experience. It's the real-world version of "fight or flight" over and over and over again. Continuously...for hours and days and weeks. And for some people, that adrenaline rush is enjoyable and addictive. But, as an avowed adrenaline junkie, combat is an adrenaline overdose.
There is a military axiom "Train as you intend to fight". Military training is intended to ingrain patterns of behavior that soldiers will fall back on when their capacity for rational thought has been eroded by the stresses of combat. (I will not digress into a discussion of how that training is mostly centered around "how to kill and survive" rather that "how to comply with the Geneva convention and related accords" -- though that might explain why every army has a history of military atrocities).
A computer assistant -- to be effective in combat -- would have to "learn" its user in situations equivalent to combat. If it didn't, it wouldn't react the same in actual combat. And, I assure you, no training simulation comes close to approaching combat. The combination of "If I make a mistake I will die" and "I am actually killing a person" and "I could randomly die no matter what the fuck I do" is not something that can be realistically duplicated outside of the experience. I would also like to point out that soldiers do *not* respond well to "things outside of normal training parameters". The general inclination is to "shoot it" or "evade detection while trying to decide if I should shoot it".
So what we have is (a) a computer program that has "learned" its user in situations less than combat (b) a soldier that has "learned" preset responses to external stimuli -- including the computer. If you throw the soldier+computer into combat, the computer doesn't know how to react anymore -- not correctly anyway -- because it's never "learned" about combat. The soldier will tend to listen to the computer because that's what he's been trained to do...but the computer is going to be offering suboptimal advice/help/whatever...because it doesn't "know" about combat.
There's definitely roles for computers on the battlefield. Trying to provide stress-relief is probably not one of them. Certainly it's an interesting idea. And one day, it might be plausible. But, now, it's not too feasible. I think that computing will have to evolve quite a bit more before battlefield assistants that monitor emotional states and provide feedback based on that emotional state are truly a force multiplier.
soldier: AAAAGGH! My ARM HAS BEEN BLOWN OFF!!!
robot: Your ARM HAS BEEN BLOWN OFF?
soldier: YES!!!
robot: What kind of arm is it??
soldier: OH MY GOD THE PAIN IS UNBEARABLE!
robot: Yippee! Your GOD THE PAIN IS UNBEARABLE?
soldier: WHAT??!!! MY ARM!! MY ARM!!!
robot: Where did you get your ARM?
soldier: IT'S BEEN BLOWN OFF YOU STUPID PIECE OF SH*T!
robot: Is it still BLOWN OFF me STUPID PIECE OF SH*T anymore?
soldier faints from loss of blood
soldier: uhhnnn...
robot: Is the holding of hands a symbolic gesture for humans?
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Clippy: It looks like you are bleeding to death. Would you like some help?
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.