Amazon Preparing a Wearable That 'Reads Human Emotions', Says Report (theverge.com) 67
Amazon is said to be working on a wrist-worn, voice-activated device that's supposed to be able to read human emotions. This would be a rather novel health gadget, of the sort we're more used to seeing in tenuous crowdfunding campaigns instead of from one of the world's biggest tech companies. From a report: Bloomberg has spoken to a source and reviewed internal Amazon documents, which reportedly show the Alexa voice software team and Amazon's Lab126 hardware division are collaborating on the wearable in development. The device, working in sync with a smartphone app, is said to have microphones that can "discern the wearer's emotional state from the sound of his or her voice." In a mildly dystopian twist, Bloomberg adds that "eventually the technology could be able to advise the wearer how to interact more effectively with others."
Bullshit Claims (Score:3)
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Haha, "mood ring" was what came immediately to my mind! I had one when I as a kid. Unfortunately it was always black - either my hands were colder than average, or I was a young serial killer.
I'm not going to tell you which was the case, though.
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I doubt it could discern your emotions as your dog or cat.
Sorry, in English?
Joy Detected (Score:3)
Joy is unauthorized at work. You have been assigned to a pointless meeting to correct this emotion.
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Why? (Score:1)
Are we so out of touch with our emotions that we need a gadget to tell us what we are feeling?
Glances at phone. Oh look, I thought I was pissed off, turns out I'm just horny.
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I surly know.
Nicely done :)
However: Not all of us know. It takes me a while to realise I'm hyperactive, stressed, anxious, grumpy or otherwise off-kilter. Self awareness isn't easy for some people.
Not that I expect this device to help. Invading my privacy to give me bad and/or impractical advice can only worsen my mood.
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Are we so out of touch with our emotions that we need a gadget to tell us what we are feeling?
Glances at phone. Oh look, I thought I was pissed off, turns out I'm just horny.
Is it really for telling your own emotions- or for determining someone else's? Can a device really tell someone's emotions better than I can?
This is great! --- If only you were wearing an Amazon device and I spoke this aloud, you could tell if I was enthusiastic or angry/sarcastic.
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I sometimes have trouble with my tone of voice sounding rude, condescending or angry when I'm actually feeling anything but, partially from being brought up in an environment where that was the tone of voice I heard most often, compounded by spending too many years doing internet tech support. A device that could alert me when I'm sounding angry would be of use to me.
Prior Art (Score:2)
Let me guess, it will be in the form of a ring that changes colors....?
Future Art (Smile for the Emojibot!) (Score:3)
So... (Score:2)
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Was just thinking - Amazon already offers this [amazon.com]!
Wrong Emotions! (Score:5, Insightful)
Emotions are a human trait. There is nothing wrong with people having emotions. What is wrong is the long march of minimizing emotions, boxing emotions and labeling emotions.
Being angry or mad is not a terrible thing, its human. What is terrible is that society associates someone being angry or mad with being out of control and violent, and shunning instead of acting and understanding.
Being sad, or crying is not a terrible thing, its human. What is terrible is that society associates someone crying with being hysterical, being out of control, and shunning instead of acting and understanding.
Its not the technology walking us into this, we have been on this trajectory ever since the average person was able to pigeonhole their fellow man with psychological terms that in almost every case are extreme, and isolationist.
--
Being able to give someone a hug from the heart, it's healing. It's healing for yourself and healing for others, and we need a lot of that. - Big Show
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Its not the technology walking us into this, we have been on this trajectory ever since the average person was able to pigeonhole their fellow man with psychological terms that in almost every case are extreme, and isolationist.
I think that's a bit of an overreach, though I might agree with some of your sentiment. The problem is that psychology isn't as precise as most other medical disciplines and it's very hard to perform the kinds of experiments that would seriously advance the field because most of them would be Mengelian levels of horrifying.
The other issue is that modern society is perfectly happy with treatments that address the symptoms as opposed to doing anything to fix the underlying causes and this is not limited to
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...There is nothing wrong with people having emotions. .... What is terrible is that society associates someone being angry or mad with being out of control and violent, and shunning instead of acting and understanding.
Being sad, or crying is not a terrible thing, its human. What is terrible is that society associates someone crying with being hysterical, being out of control, and shunning instead of acting and understanding.
Playing devil's advocate (although honestlyI don't see how a wearable will help any if this) there is a downside to "negative emotions".
Too much sadness, or anger, can negatively impact your health. It promotes stress hormones which negatively impact you in all sorts of ways. If someone is sad, or angry too much, there are real health issues at play (besides emotional health which is important in and of itself): blood pressure, weight gain, lack of sleep... and more...
Why? (Score:1)
Why don't I just tell you how I'm feeling? Just a warning, if you're in charge of Amazon you're not going to like what I have to say...which I guess is also why we don't constantly tell others what our emotions are. You know, because adults learn to manage their emotions, rather than upload them to the NSA.
Pfft (Score:2)
Mood rings have been doing this since the 1970s.
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Mood rings have been doing this since the 1970s.
In a few months, we'll see the announcement about the amazing new Amazon Pop Rocks.
Since we're on the subject of mood-rings.... (Score:2)
Is there a reasonably good quality mood-ring without going electronic? I mean as in mounted on real steel, or at least not pot-metal? Something that won't give you lead poisoning or turn your finger green and actually hold up for daily wear? Just curious.
Cool! (Score:2)
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My "favorite" was when the Amazon delivery guy stuck my package in the branches of our apple tree, and flagged it "left in a secure location". With a picture.
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My "favorite" was when the Amazon delivery guy stuck my package in the branches of our apple tree, and flagged it "left in a secure location". With a picture.
Well, did it fall? If not I'd say it was secured pretty well.
A wearable? (Score:2)
RBF (Score:2)
Oh, so a 21st Century visual mood ring?
I'd love to see exactly how they're going to analyze the mood of Resting Bitch Face.
Comment (Score:2)
Here's a demonstration video of prior art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
I have a secret... (Score:2)
Number Six... (Score:2)
Money Is The Root... (Score:1)
...of all evil.
I can see the Slashdot headline now... "Amazon Emotion-Reader Users Your Data to 'Personalize' Your Shopping Experience"