Mind-reading computers in 5 years

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/0...eut/index.html

Sounds almost like telescreens from 1984. If all computers will come equipped with it in the future with no option to turn it off it will be a severe blow to privacy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Coming soon -- mind-reading computers

Monday, June 26, 2006; Posted: 12:06 p.m. EDT (16:06 GMT)


Computers of the future may be able to read our facial expressions. SPECIAL REPORT
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Manage Alerts | What Is This? LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A raised eyebrow, quizzical look or a nod of the head are just a few of the facial expressions computers could soon be using to read people's minds.

An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.

"The system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone," said Professor Peter Robinson of Cambridge University in England.

He and his collaborators believe the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods.

"Imagine a computer that could pick the right emotional moment to try to sell you something, a future where mobile phones, cars and Web sites could read our mind and react to our moods," he added.

The technology is already programmed to recognize 24 facial expressions generated by actors. Robinson hopes to get more data from the public to determine whether someone is bored, interested, confused, or agrees or disagrees when it is unveiled at a science exhibition in London on Monday, July 3.

People visiting the four-day exhibition organized by the Royal Society, Britain's academy of leading scientists, will be invited to take part in a study to hone the program's abilities.

The scientists, who are developing the technology in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, also hope to get it to accept other inputs such as posture and gesture.

"Our research could enable Web sites to tailor advertising or products to your mood," Robinson told Reuters. "For example, a Webcam linked with our software could process your image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit information to a Web site."

It could also be useful in online teaching to show whether someone understands what is being explained and in improving road safety by determining whether a driver is confused, bored or tired.

"We are working with a big car company and they envision this being employed in cars within five years," Robinson said, adding that a camera could be built into the dashboard.

Anyone who does not want to give away too much information about what they are feeling, he said, can just cover up the camera.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This had been on the news for quite some time.

There's always the option of keeping the current 'puter :2thumbsup:

Sweet! Now guys can get a computer to do what women can already do to guys... emotional decoding from facial expressions.

Hmm. Seems like a lot of effort to find out that internet users are thinking "where's teh pron?".

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Originally Posted by English assassin

Hmm. Seems like a lot of effort to find out that internet users are thinking "where's teh pron?".

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Ah yes, it's past the post office, 200 yards down, and then left at the light.

this is old news.

http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogame...link_image.jpg

Then by reading my expressions as I read this they would be able to tell that I think it is a bad idea.

That's gonna kill poker games !!

(well, and if implemented as paranoid buggers like me fear it will, it will also ultimately enslave us all to the noble ideal of ultimate consumerism...but that's less important).

Excellent ! The Hive Mind is the only way forward !

Mind-reading is possible but not as easy as that.
A computer would have to store all possible thoughts in order to recognize them on the basis of facial expression. Think about it.

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Originally Posted by doc_bean

Excellent ! The Hive Mind is the only way forward !

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Resistance is futile. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. You will be assimilated.

The upside would be that you could get an interface program that'd allow you to kill popups by frowning at them.

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Originally Posted by doc_bean

Excellent ! The Hive Mind is the only way forward !

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Well done, Cerebrate.

a neural-net processor? a learning computer?

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Originally Posted by Big_John

a neural-net processor? a learning computer?

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The way I see it, this has nothing to do with learning, just with storing associations between human reactions and their significance. If the human's heart rate changes so, this means that; if facial muscles x and y contract thus, it means something else; etc.
And you just store all that.
Nothing to do with learning. Anyway, what were you trying to say, Big_John?:2thumbsup:

it's not a tooomah!

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Originally Posted by The_Mark

The upside would be that you could get an interface program that'd allow you to kill popups by frowning at them.

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OK, best post of the day!

Get a bandanna and sunglasses, or destroy the camera!

Crazed Rabbit

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Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Mind-reading is possible but not as easy as that.
A computer would have to store all possible thoughts in order to recognize them on the basis of facial expression. Think about it.

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You can't recognize all thoughts on the basis of facial expression even then. Just think about what the actors making the expressions were really thinking during the recording ~:) Mind-reading has always been and still is restricted to measuring emotions. By relating the emotions to what is going on around the individual you can sometimes guess what exactly the individual is thinking about, but the individual can also be thinking of something completely different than what's going on around him/her, so mind-reading is completely restricted to emotions, or to be exact - to those of your emotions that you show to the outside consciously or sub-consciously by a facial expression. All other mind-reading attempts are based on guessing and can never be guaranteed to be correct.

This invention isn't for mind-reading, it's more for thought as a controller for computer systems, possible to use for disabled people for instance. True mind-reading is impossible without exact knowledge of the individual brain you're going to read the mind of, and far more complex computers than we have today.

OK, that post actually made a great deal of sense, Legio. It's right on the money. Just like good poker players read their opponents. They aren't reading the thoughts so much as the emotional state of the opponent. Gauging excitement and such. Very nice post.

But now, I'm concerned with my own sanity, having agreed whole-heartedly with your post. :wink: If we keep meeting like this people are going to start rumors.

Agreed, Legio. That's the fault of those who believe mind-reading tools are actually perfectly effective. It's like, whatitscalled? The thing some police forces used to try and "detect criminality" through the suspect's reaction, heart rates and all that. It can only go so far.

polygraph ?

You're of course right Legio, I only addressed one of the many constraints of mind-reading machines.

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Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Mind-reading is possible but not as easy as that.
A computer would have to store all possible thoughts in order to recognize them on the basis of facial expression. Think about it.

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But that would slow down my loading times!

not for porn, which is really the important one - 'cause you'd keep the same facial expression on all the time. :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars

But that would slow down my loading times!

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Actually it would complicate things a lot, since the storage device to store all that information probably would have the size the universe.

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Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Actually it would complicate things a lot, since the storage device to store all that information probably would have the size the universe.

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They probably have a lot of storage space in EMFM's kingdom on Mars...

Trash this idea right now. We need privacy, at least in our minds!