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MIT Scientists Use Radio Waves To Sense Human Emotions (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNNMoney: Researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a device that uses radio waves to detect whether someone is happy, sad, angry or excited. The breakthrough makes it easier to accomplish what scientists have tried to do for years with machines: sense human emotions. The researchers believe tracking a person's feelings is a step toward improving their overall emotional well-being. The technology isn't invasive; it works in the background without a person having to do anything, like wearing a device. The device called EQ-Radio, which was detailed in a paper published online Tuesday, resembles a shoebox, as of now. It works by bouncing wireless signals off a person. These signals are impacted by motion, such as breathing and heartbeats. When the heart pumps blood, a force is exerted onto our bodies, and the skin vibrates ever so slightly. After the radio waves are impacted by these vibrations, they return to the device. A computer then analyzes the signals to identify changes in heartbeat and breathing. The researchers demonstrated their system detects emotions on par with an electrocardiogram (EKG), a common wearable device medical professionals use to monitor the human heart. The machine's analysis of the radio waves relies on artificial intelligence, which learns how various heartbeats indicate certain emotions. As a part of the testing, the machine bounced radio waves off actors who recreated a range of emotions. The more emotions the machine experienced, the better it identified what signals, such as a fast heartbeat, gave away their true feelings. By monitoring radio waves reflected off people who are happy, the machine is exposed to certain signs -- such as heart rate or a type of breathing -- associated with being in good spirits.

91 comments

  1. Lame by sexconker · · Score: 0

    I can do this too. It's called looking at someone.

    1. Re:Lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The goal wasn't to make computers able to do something that humans can't do, but to make it do something humans can do, but which computers (so far) cannot.

      Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.

    2. Re:Lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your eyes work in the radio spectrum? Interesting.

    3. Re:Lame by GrumpySteen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.

      Like the TSA security check points at airports?

      The TSA already tries to do behavioral profiling. I could see them jumping all over this as the latest magic cure-all to make up for the incompetence of their screeners who miss 95% of the things they're supposed to be watching for.

    4. Re:Lame by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      We have to pay the wireless router way less in order to get quality results.

    5. Re:Lame by tsqr · · Score: 1

      Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.

      Like the TSA security check points at airports?

      The TSA already tries to do behavioral profiling. I could see them jumping all over this as the latest magic cure-all to make up for the incompetence of their screeners who miss 95% of the things they're supposed to be watching for.

      In your eagerness to point out the ineptness of the TSA, you may have missed the part where each individual's emotional responses have to be measured before subsequent emotional responses can be identified. Of course, this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of people who haven't been previously baselined, e.g., random people in a TSA screening line.

    6. Re:Lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SHHHHHHH

      Don't give them any ideas, you keep this up, everyone will have to submit to a baseline screening before being cleared to go anywhere on any public transportation out of security concerns.

    7. Re:Lame by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

      In your eagerness to dismiss my comment, you may have missed the part where the TSA is already engaged in behavioral profiling despite not having any previous baselines to compare people's behavior to. Of course this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of random people in a TSA screening line, but that hasn't stopped the TSA from putting it in place.

    8. Re:Lame by tsqr · · Score: 1

      In your eagerness to dismiss my comment, you may have missed the part where the TSA is already engaged in behavioral profiling despite not having any previous baselines to compare people's behavior to. Of course this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of random people in a TSA screening line, but that hasn't stopped the TSA from putting it in place.

      Profiling based upon observable behaviors is not remotely similar to detecting emotions base upon RF detection. One requires calibration of an individual's "signature"; the other does not. This is not to claim that the TSA's method of behavioral screening is effective compare to, say, the methods used by El Al airline screeners; in fact, the TSA's general approach to providing security theatre as opposed to genuine security pretty much predicts that it won't be effective at all.

  2. Tinfoil hats! by LEgregius · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess we now have verifiable, logical reason to (keep) wear(ing) a tinfoil hat.

    1. Re:Tinfoil hats! by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      I think that if there was any use for something like this, it would be as a replacement for the polygraph. It would probably be equally worthless in that it isn't accurate enough to conclusively determine whether or not one is lying, while also possibly being harder to fool in that the existing techniques for fooling polygraphs may not work.

      Either way though, I suspect that the asshole administering the polygraph (and yes, they're pretty much all assholes, even former polygraphers usually agree) won't let you wear any tinfoil.

    2. Re:Tinfoil hats! by dbIII · · Score: 1

      it would be as a replacement for the polygraph

      A piece of fucking string is a replacement for the polygraph. If J. Edgar Hoover didn't take kickbacks we'd never have heard of that scam.

      This thing on the other hand seems to be able to detect if people are reacting to something.

    3. Re:Tinfoil hats! by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Polygraph, just clench your butt checks, this raises your blood pressure and breathing enough to cook results (if you are bored and don't care about the test, do the butt check rumba, switching cheeks, in a musical beat, remember not to over clinch as you will bounce around on the seat, ;D). Of course you could just be born a psychopath and the charade of polygraph (the measure of reactions to questions, based upon the ability of the actor carrying out the test convincing you the test works, regardless of any answers you give, answering those question is just part of the charade).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  3. Time to update your wardrobe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Run, don't walk, to William Gibson's Electronic Menswear today for your full body tinfoil suit. -PCP

  4. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    actors who recreated a range of emotions

    their true feelings

    Hmm...am I missing something?

    1. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hmmmm . . .
      I'm sure there were real emotions the machine could detect,
      -OR WERE THERE!
      You're observation brings up an interesting point - what if this machine that can "detect emotions" ends up being another piece of pseudo-science that we follow blindly, like the lie detector?
      Also, if this can detect real emotion but also reacts to acting, could you lie to the machine to get it to not know how you're actually feeling?

    2. Re:WTF? by ClickOnThis · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think TFS is a bit sloppy, as is the first link. According to the MIT link, the subjects were not actors, just subjects. From that article:

      For the experiments, subjects used videos or music to recall a series of memories that each evoked one the four emotions, as well as a no-emotion baseline. Trained just on those five sets of two-minute videos, EQ-Radio could then accurately classify the person’s behavior among the four emotions 87 percent of the time.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    3. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, actors can control heart`s pace. Hmm. Who would have thought...

    4. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, actors can control heart`s pace. Hmm. Who would have thought...

      It's all in the Method, Grasshopper.

    5. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not much worse than when they get actors to fake emotions, take photos and test people's ability to read faces using the resulting images.

      "Yes doctor, that appears to be a sad and angry person pretending to be happy."

  5. AI by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    "relies on artificial intelligence, which learns how various heartbeats indicate certain emotions"
    Christ, another "AI" breakthough. We call algorithms AI now. Apparently a bunch of "if/else" statements are AI now.

    1. Re:AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently a bunch of "if/else" statements are AI now.

      You can do pretty interesting things with a bunch of if/else statements recursively constructing and linking forests of other if/else statements, based on continuously updated external data feeds and internal state decisions, running on a pile of modern hardware. Call it whatever you like. -PCP

    2. Re:AI by sexconker · · Score: 1

      All programming is if/else when you get down to it.

    3. Re:AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All programming is if/else when you get down to it.

      No, no, no that's not programming, that's a code smell. Haven't you watched "The If Statement Considered Harmful" yet?

    4. Re:AI by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Christ, another "AI" breakthough. We call algorithms AI now. Apparently a bunch of "if/else" statements are AI now.

      It's the same depressing way that nanotech became toothpaste and sunscreen instead of the little machines Drexler wrote about.
      Think about it as you stand on a Hoverboard or do a little bit of Android programming.

    5. Re:AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just as there are many 'types' of infinities, there are many 'types' of AI.

      Neural Nets / Machine Learning are just one such type, albeit one that should be classified as weak, rather than strong, AI.

      I do take your point, but ... baby steps...

      *Posting Anon to preserve moderation elsewhere in this topic.

    6. Re:AI by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's only 1 / 3 of programming.

      i.e.

      1. Linear = Unconditional Sequence of instructions
      2. Cyclic = Unconditional Iteration / Repetition
      3. Choice = Conditional Branching

    7. Re:AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yup, Turing completeness is branching and memory manipulation. If/else statements are enough to re-implement the Universe itself AND a deity of your choice (given enough RAM, tee hee).

    8. Re:AI by sexconker · · Score: 1

      A flat sequence of instructions are an if/then at a lower level. If there's shit on the stack, if there's a pointer to return to, if there's input to process, etc.
      Loops are simply if/then. Unconditional loops are just "if true, then". Loops are often unrolled by a compiler for performance.

      And considering we use binary, it's all a bunch of if statements at the lowest level.

    9. Re:AI by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      1. It is not really an if-then if the conditional is always hard-coded to true.
      2. A _sequence_ is fundamental different from a _conditional_.

      * If-then deals with a _single_ sequence point.
      * A sequence deals with _multiple_ sequence points.

      i.e. If you have _2_ if-then conditionals, A and B, then what is the _order_ they are processed?

      * Both at the same time?
      * A before B
      * B before A
      * Neither ?

      I understand the abstraction you're trying to get at but you're trying to kludge a model and force it be analogous when it does not map 100%.

  6. Or you can do this by looking for the interjection by mark-t · · Score: 1

    Generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by comma when the feeling's not as strong.

  7. Been doing this for years by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ever since I can remember, I had the ability to sense electromagnetic emissions from other people to detect their emotional state. I also had an ability I call "aural telepathy" -- the ability to sense a person's thoughts by tuning in to subtle sensations such as tiny vibrations in the air.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Been doing this for years by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Me too. That is how I first learned that girls don't like me.

    2. Re:Been doing this for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, I know you *think* you don't really need that Seroquel, but doctor knows best, m'kay?

    3. Re:Been doing this for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Please, please, please, OP, take your Seroquel or Thorazine or Haldol or whatever it is that you're prescribed. If you haven't been prescribed medicine you need to discuss your abilities with a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist can help find a treatment plan that keeps your sensations from getting out of control.

    4. Re:Been doing this for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude's just saying he has Vision and Hearing, just like most other humans.

    5. Re:Been doing this for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The researchers demonstrated their system detects emotions on par with an electrocardiogram (EKG)

      Which is to say, not very well.
      In fact, it doesn't detect EMOTIONS at all - it detects body state, through heart rate, breathing and MAYBE other measures.
      These can be CORRELATED with emotions, based on self-reporting, but there's no sensing of any EMOTION at all.

      BS.

    6. Re:Been doing this for years by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      Ever since I can remember, I had the ability to sense electromagnetic emissions from other people to detect their emotional state. I also had an ability I call "aural telepathy" -- the ability to sense a person's thoughts by tuning in to subtle sensations such as tiny vibrations in the air.

      Spiders are teaming up as we speak to attack the USPTO over prior art. Just waiting.. Biding their time until...

  8. Not quite what is being claimed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The machine can tell if someone is acting happy, sad, angry or excited.

    Not quite the same as detecting if someone is really experiencing these emotions.

  9. Note RE: use of actors in this type of experiment. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In Effective computing, detecting emotional state via physiological pattern recognition is a difficult task. The easiest way to get good results is to use deliberately expressed emotions (actors) in the experiment, as a proposed to spontaneous emotions (which have much subtler characteristics). it is very difficult to say with certainty whether any experiment that uses actors + physiological signals has actually achieved any emotion recognition at all. This is because an actor may consciously but their body into a particular state in order to bring about the desired emotion. Eg deliberately breathing deeper, to make yourself feel angry. I would be curious to see if this work can be replicated in an environment that elicits emotion through stimuli.

  10. I'm all for curiosity but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe this is lying-detector-grade garbage.

  11. Creepy. by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    I bet it stops working if I wear a tinfoil suit.

  12. Actors aren't a good template by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actors can simulate an emotional reaction but by definition they are only 'pretending', it does not necessarily copy real life in every way. What about anger/resentment/hatred? How does an actor portray hate or fear towards a person/object? Do they stand still, flare their nostrils a bit and screw up their face?

    How does this compare to someone that actually hates or fears something? Wouldn't this affect their blood pressure and the radio waves in ways different to what the actor can portray?

  13. Tin Foil Conspiracy! by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 1

    If only Tin Foil was easy to find. "They" have cleverly replaced what you can easily purchase with Aluminum Foil!

    We all know that is good for nothing, in stopping them from controlling your brain from afar!

    (MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE USED MORE ALL CAPS WORDS? I don't know, I can't find my tinfoil hat.)

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:Tin Foil Conspiracy! by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      The problem with tinfoil is it grows all spiky really quickly. You brush it off and all those spikes go everywhere, killing everything electronic you touch, and making it hard to plug stuff in and out without getting shocked.

      Al foils, though, doesn't have that problem. Hell, even tin cans are steel these days.

  14. Sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So .. it's an e-meter.

    1. Re:Sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was more thinking of the Voight-Kampff machine from Blade Runner.

  15. Whaddya expect? by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

    Glad there's a definitive method. Sure helps when engaging in polite conversation.

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  16. Meh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Still can't detect sarcasm /Sarcasm

  17. Don't do the studies!!! by puterg33k · · Score: 0

    This shit makes you feel like you're losing your fucking mind. Full on psychosis and dementia type symptoms. It's not worth the 1,400$ clams. I think I'll have these headaches for the rest of my life, I never had headaches before the study.

  18. It's not April 1st yet by cpufrier37075 · · Score: 1

    I had to check my calendar to be sure.

    1. Re: It's not April 1st yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seriously. Apples paper bag and MS curing cancer aren't helping me feel like it is September.

  19. Just because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a heart that beats and a brain that emits waves does not mean that a 3rd party can/should collect this information without my expressly written consent.
    This is a whole other level of "invasive" privacy perversion.

  20. Micro Body Language by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Ever since I can remember, I had the ability to sense electromagnetic emissions from other people to detect their emotional state. I also had an ability I call "aural telepathy" -- the ability to sense a person's thoughts by tuning in to subtle sensations such as tiny vibrations in the air.

    If you are serious then you might want to consider the possibility that you were born with hyper-acuity (sensitivity) to micro body language. People born with this amped up body language awareness at a conscious level can in a sense almost read peoples minds to some degree. Not through psychic like means but just through an autistic-like ability to pattern-match people's micro-body language at a level a speed and accuracy beyond what people normally perceive, or normally only perceive at a subconscious level. Someone born with this can easily end up thinking they have a psychic ability or come up with some other inaccurate explanation for what causes this, because the real ability can be highly accurate, as such it is completely understandable and not due to insanity.

    I also have this ability and at the very least can easily tell when people are lying to me. I can also, with a consistently high success rate, predict how people I'm around will react to most things in at least the short term and even to a degree what they may be about to say, which has freaked out a number of people when I would say what they were about to say while looking at them but just before they said it. These days I normally just keep it to myself. Note: The consistent verifiable accuracy of my abilities precludes delusion and this ability is known of in the scientific community.

    1. Re: Micro Body Language by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct.
      Super-recognition tends to be the most common expression of this hyper-refined ability to see detail where most don't.
      Derren Brown is probably most well-known for his skill in this area, as well as poking fun at psychics.

      These skills are very employable in police, security and law industries.
      On the other hand, you are probably pre-banned from gambling establishments the instant you become known.

    2. Re: Micro Body Language by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would you be banned from a casino? Poker's the only game where it would be beneficial, and the house doesn't have any money to lose on that, only other gamblers.

    3. Re:Micro Body Language by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      You win the Whooshed Of The Month award for that one.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    4. Re:Micro Body Language by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True, true. But, fwiw, I did find what he had to say interesting.

      Give up some nerd love. It helps if you read it in Sheldon's voice.

    5. Re:Micro Body Language by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      I can also, with a consistently high success rate, predict how people I'm around will react to most things

      It's called confirmation bias.

  21. MIT Scientists Use Radio Waves To Sense Human Emot by rickyslashdot · · Score: 1

    And now - for another tool to tell if you are a 'terrorist' risk ! Damn, all it takes is an RF emitter, receiver, and an AI interface - and GUESS WHAT . . . Everyone going through an airline queue gets 'sampled' - and guess how many get butt-fsked due to overly sensitive 'AI' analysis . . . . . GUESS how many false positives will crop up from stressed-out common people simply trying to get somewhere to resolve business problems ! ! ! This tech will run to the TOP of weaponizeable applications as fast as you can say 'oh, sh1t'. I'm really glad that I'm a disabled veteran who can't travel, and don't have to endure the current Orwellian paranoia that has evolved from the BASIC task assigned to the task force to prevent MASS ATTACKS via airplanes ---NOT to prevent EVERY INCIDENCE of SINGLE AIRPLANE ATTACKS ! ! ! Gotta' love the United States of Authority when they get their quasi-authorization to go ballistic WITHOUT OVERWATCH CONTROL ! ! ! Sweden and the Netherlands are looking more attractive (as an ex-pat) every year that this type of over-bearing 'big brother' process whittles away at our basic human rights. From a saddened veteran that actually fought for my right to be free - - - and left with the only freedom remaining is to leave this once glorious union. As a side note - it has now become easier and faster to drive / use a bus / travel by train than to FLY to any destination within a 500 mile radius.

    --
    redneck geek
  22. Never mind emotion sensing- by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This sounds more like the Star Trek Medical Bed.

    Yay!

    1. Re:Never mind emotion sensing- by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      This sounds more like the Star Trek Medical Bed.

      Yay!

      Hey. It learned. When you copped an attitude, it would respond with guilt tripping to the fast healing of your body being impeded. Or wait, was that the hologram doc? I can't keep the two separated in my head.

  23. We call it Voight-Kampff by blindseer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've seen another technology that can track eyes to measure dilation of pupils, heart rate from changes in skin color on the face, as well as breathing. A bit more to estimate body temperature from the infrared. I wonder if it is possible to measure blood pressure, not just that blood pressure falls and rises but something like those inflatable cuffs, without touching the person.

    Measuring emotional response from questioning certainly has benefits for a police interrogator, especially if that detective's job is to find out if the suspect is human. I can see this as useful to quickly and easily measure a person's health. Problems with breathing while asleep would be easier with this machine. Put it at the entrance to a hospital and set certain limits on where it might flag someone for more attention. Not to replace more traditional diagnostic tools but to augment it.

    If this could allow for removing some of the wires and such from a patient in a hospital and make them more comfortable. The emotional state stuff was already there before, they just automated it a bit more. Only then it was called a polygraph.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    1. Re:We call it Voight-Kampff by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      Indeed, but this one works around the "Don't...TOUCH" crowd of lawsuit-happy.. Wait, who are these supposed to be used on? /humor

  24. massive opportunieties by turbiina · · Score: 0

    Now employers could weed out those unhappy workers,who cannot appreciate being a member of friendly corporate family, Also governmentents could dispatch unhappy citizens to hapiness camps. And all completely automatic and cheap! Thank you good lords from MIT!

  25. Low tech drivel by strstr · · Score: 1

    They already have radar that remotely scans the nerves and brain- reading and altering the emotions, and other functions inside of us. Its been around for decades. Its patented and classified. drrobertduncan.com

    Vital signs and remote diagnosis also work with it no need for this type of crazy polygraph level garbage that provides no useful Intel.

  26. Wireless Polygraph by r0kk3rz · · Score: 1

    So what you're saying here is that MIT have invented a wireless polygraph. Maybe we should build a bunch of portable ones and give them out to reporters.

    1. Re:Wireless Polygraph by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying here is that MIT have invented a wireless polygraph. Maybe we should build a bunch of portable ones and give them out to reporters.

      Not a bad idea. I think it's a good idea to invent sub-dermal nano'tuders to help people cheat. There's $ome profit! Drooling....

  27. Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopaths by blind+biker · · Score: 2

    Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  28. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by dbIII · · Score: 2

    Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.

    Or it turns out from the summary even actors can fool it.

  29. "It relies on AI"... by mbeckman · · Score: 1

    So therefore it cannot work, because there is no such thing as AI. The piece notes that researchers proved they succeeded because the EQR (pronounced eeker?) "detects emotions on par with an electrocardiogram (EKG), a common wearable device medical professionals use to monitor the human heart". But an EKG can't detect emotions either. It can monitor the heart, that's it. Any inference of emotion is pure voodoo. The next thing you know, they'll say it performs on a par with lie detectors. Which I suspect it does. Lie detectors are proven to be a pseudoscience after all.

    1. Re:"It relies on AI"... by myrdos2 · · Score: 1

      So therefore it cannot work, because there is no such thing as AI.

      Well, it probably uses artificial artificial intelligence. They just call it artificial intelligence because it sounds like it's really artificial, when it's actually artificially artificial.

      Typical marketing BS.

    2. Re: "It relies on AI"... by mbeckman · · Score: 1

      That's a great term! I'm going with it. "AAI". Especially cogent in that we can't even define, let alone explain, intelligence. It's all artificial until someone can. Also the initials for the support group of ex-AI "scientists": AIA :)

  30. Next step by CptLoRes · · Score: 1

    Make the emotion transmitter. You know, for science reasons..

  31. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by blind+biker · · Score: 1

    Yes, good point, and related. Psychopaths are the most "talented" actors, as they can switch empathy on and off, as required.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  32. Greetings, citizen! by pr0t0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Greetings, citizen! Your personal stress level appears to be elevated. To ensure a more harmonious life experience and enhance your calm, please report to the nearest behavioral modification center. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a joy-joy day.

    --
    I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
    1. Re:Greetings, citizen! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doubleplus good.

    2. Re:Greetings, citizen! by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      Greetings, citizen! Your personal stress level appears to be elevated. To ensure a more harmonious life experience and enhance your calm, please report to the nearest behavioral modification center. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a joy-joy day.

      Prior art. Some movie I saw. :)

  33. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    Psychopaths are the most "talented" actors, as they can switch empathy on and off, as required.

    This is incorrect. Persons with Antisocial Personality Disorder (aka psychopaths aka sociopaths) have a diminished capacity for empathy or in the most extreme cases, no capacity for empathy at all. This is not something they can control, so cannot "switch empathy on and off". The reason for this is not fully understood but if it's like schizoaffective disorders, it may be treatable.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  34. What's old is new again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one who remembers stories about this from the late 90's? I even recall something about using cell phone towers in conjunction with this, and investigations were underway to determine if it could be taken further and used to positively affect mood.

    1. Re:What's old is new again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read the good old russian sience-fiction book "The Inhabited Island" or the english version "Prisoners of Power" from Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
      Strugatsky brothers (jews by birth) had wery good connections. It is probable, that they did hear something about military research onto public behavioral science.

      Eventually, it is revealed that to maintain the loyalty of the population, the Fathers employ mind control broadcasts. The broadcast towers pepper the landscape of the country. The mind-altering capabilities of the towers are kept secret, they are disguised as ballistic missile defense installations. Constant broadcasts suppress the ability to evaluate information critically, hence making the omnipresent regime propaganda much more effective. In addition, twice a day, intense broadcasts relieve mental stress caused by the disconnect between the propaganda and the observed reality by inducing an outburst of blinding enthusiasm. The authors give a masterful description of this process at work, describing the thoughts of one of the characters as he switches from the state of peeved boredom and disdain for his superiors to the rapturous adoration of people around him and life in general.

      A minority of the population are not susceptible to the broadcasts. In these people, the intense daily broadcasts induce horrible headache and seizures. The Unknown Fathers — the ruling oligarchs are in this minority. They pay for the power to control the people by intense personal suffering during the daily broadcasts. The people outside the power elite that are not susceptible to the broadcasts are branded degenerates or degens by the state. They are actively persecuted. When captured they are either executed or sent to prison. The renegade degens organized an underground resistance movement and try to fight back by destroying the broadcast towers. The resistance does not have any political or military program and the fighters are united mostly by their suffering and their hatred of the towers. However, the rank-and-file of the underground is unaware of the main purpose of the towers. Apparently, the underground leadership wants to capture the broadcast network and use it to seize the power in the state for themselves. ...

      Rename the "ballistic missile defense installations" as "cell towers" and you get the the plot ...

  35. In next years news,,, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your Hue is cloudy,, please report to the Ministry of Health for an in-depth psycho pass analysis. We at the MWPSB wish you a clear day.

  36. Just another way to surveil and track people by kheldan · · Score: 1

    ..which, by the way, is how I framed this story when *I* submitted it yesterday. How about 'credit where credit is due', BeauHD?

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  37. Electro Magnetic Waves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you can produce then, they can affect you from outside.

  38. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, I just saw an article, or maybe a recent /., that stated something like "maybe they can".

    Anyways, I'm just an AC, and don't have time to go look it up and see if it is valid; so, caveats.

  39. Can it detect discomfort due to wifi allergy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it can't then it's not ready for prime time.

  40. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That doesn't even matter. Your emotional state doesn't need to be related to what's coming out of your mouth.

    All this is is another way to track heartbeats. However we can already detect heartbeats without contact though a camera and a little bit of color shifting software, so using radio waves ONLY means we can now do it in the dark or potentially on burn victims (but the researches didn't bother checking their invention under those situations). This technique brings nothing else to the table. The emotional aspect is purely for PR and has already been done with the other ways to measure heartbeats, so again, nothing new there.

  41. HA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YOUUURRR PLANNNN HAS BEENEATH FOILED!

    good little letters to keep slashdot o.O happy.

  42. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

    Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.

    I have a subject they can test it on. If he is beaten by it, it's a world revolution product. Well, until lawsuits start flying about the unhealthy RF noise being emitted by this truth reader bot making you all cancerous and jazz.......... as said plaintiffs sit under a fluorescent light band in the court room without complaining.

  43. Re:Like lie detectors, doesn't work with psychopat by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

    This is not something they can control, so cannot "switch empathy on and off".

    It's not the empathy, but the illusion of empathy that they turn on and off.
    And they can do it so well that even trained professionals (e.g. psychiatrists) are routinely fooled.