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DARPA's 'Social Puppet'
Roland Piquepaille writes "Videogame creators are heavily using software to animate objects or characters without reprogramming them between two scenes. Now, game designers from the University of Southern California (USC) have developed 'Social Puppet,' a computer engine to 'help soldiers learn unfamiliar languages by interacting with animated characters.' For this project, financed by DARPA, the researchers have used their expertise in previous videogames used by the armed forces, such as 'Tactical Iraqi.' But previous games were focused on teaching language and customs while Social Puppet is giving on-screen characters human non-verbal communication behaviors."
Why is the company that is at the forefront of intelligent vehicles collaborating with the U.S. army!?
Umm... the US Army is part of the Department of Defense , and DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
I bet this was originally designed as dating software.
"You know you don't act like a scientist, you're more like a game show host." Dana Barret
Indeed, that's why all World War 2 vets are actually terrorists. It doesn't matter if your enemy is the loathsome Nazis or headed by a self-proclaimed deity on earth (Imperial Japan) who invaded China and killed millions of Chinese.
Sadly, many people really do think this way.
I've heard stories of handing out candy to Iraqi children... then getting shot. It happened to my cousins platoon. They also got a suicide bomber while handing out soccer balls (the soccer ball one was real sad, one soldier actively handing them out died along with about a dozen civilians just trying to get a soccer ball). One of my good friends just got back without an eardrum, and the only stories I've heard from him are of roadside bombings and snipers. He had a few stories of detaining some people, but nothing he described sounded like anything I would call torture or abuse. From the handful of people I know that have gone to Iraq I've heard of two cases I could call abuse, no murders of civilians (besides those hit by suicide bombers) and no torture (but I also don't know anyone working/has worked as a prison guard or anything like that).
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns