

MIT lab develops glasses that can read another person's emotional state - japaget
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128191.600-specs-that-see-right-through-you.html?full=true

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hebejebelus
FTA: "When Picard and el Kaliouby were calibrating their prototype, they were
surprised to find that the average person only managed to interpret,
correctly, 54 per cent of Baron-Cohen's expressions on real, non-acted faces.
This suggested to them that most people - not just those with autism - could
use some help sensing the mood of people they are talking to. "People are just
not that good at it," says Picard. The software, by contrast, correctly
identifies 64 per cent of the expressions."

I kind of wonder how they did this testing. Much of the information we get
about a person's mood is from what context there is (far more than comes from
what's on their faces). There are people who cry out of joy, but if I saw a
picture of one of these people, I'm sure it would look like sadness to me.

Further, I don't like the sound of a future where people stop talking to other
people because a light starts blinking.

However, for the purposes of autism research and development, this is good.
Better than good - this is excellent. I really hope there will be more
research in this area, for the purpose of helping those who can't communicate
well. (I suppose that contradicts what I said above. Perhaps there is a
particular scale on which to rank necessity of aid in communication?)

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btilly
It is a well-known result.

For instance you can test yourself at
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/>.

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robinduckett
17/20 although I thought I had them all. Eyebrows don't move if you're faking.
Also the way they returned to stone cold normality after the smile gave it
away.

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exch
Being a certified autist with the additional bonus of having very bad
eyesight, I can't stress enough how important and useful developments like
these can be.

I am extremely poor at having face to face conversations. Mostly because any
kind of body language completely escapes me. This has caused numerous
situations of miss-communication and generally makes any kind of meaningful
interaction with a human being unreliable at best.

Having access to an aid like this will certainly help improve matters for me
and anyone trying to have a conversation with me.

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jdunck
Consider reading these: [http://www.amazon.com/What-Every-BODY-Saying-Speed-
Reading/d...](http://www.amazon.com/What-Every-BODY-Saying-Speed-
Reading/dp/0061438294/) [http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-
Language/dp/05538...](http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-
Language/dp/0553804723/)

~~~
sayemm
The first book looks really interesting, thanks for sharing.

I'm also a huge fan of "Caro's Book of Poker Tells" -
[http://www.amazon.com/Caros-Book-Poker-Tells-
Mike/dp/1580420...](http://www.amazon.com/Caros-Book-Poker-Tells-
Mike/dp/1580420826/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309850878&sr=1-1)

Poker, I find, is a great way to train yourself to read people and their
emotions.

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localhost3000
Only at the mecca of social-awkwardness (MIT) could something like this be
developed.

Kidding aside, MIT never ceases to amaze. Boston's most valuable resource by a
mile, IMHO.

~~~
shriphani
I sometimes wonder how lucky the residents of Cambridge, MA are. MIT AND
HARVARD... man that is some concentration of intelligence.

~~~
danielharan
I stayed in Cambridge a few days ago, half way between MIT and Harvard - and a
mile away from a chocolate factory.

Center of the fucking universe!

~~~
jamesbkel
Taza chocolate, perhaps? Great stuff.

~~~
danielharan
Indeed! Well worth the detour for anyone visiting.

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kmfrk
If this weren't amazing enough, one of the inventors is named Picard.

Is it possible for this to get cooler?

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kenjackson
My first thought for this was use for TSA or other types of security. Another
place might be law enforcement interrogations during investigations.

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klausjensen
I want this for poker...

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mw63214
<http://www.affectiva.com/q-sensor/> like fitbit, but for emotion. Imagine the
ecosystem-explosion given access to a decent API.

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zmanian
It always seems to take companies that originate from the MIT media lab a long
time to get from cool demo to something hackers/the general public can play
with.

It can't get here fast enough in my opinion.

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wiradikusuma
I think this should be mandatory gadget for going to clubs (meeting opposite
sex). Assuming it works in low light.

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walrus
What happens when you swap the red and green lights?

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gubatron
This + Google recording every hangout video conversation to create a huge
training data set... damn

