In this week’s podcast we tackle Emotional (sometimes called Affective) Computing — when computers read and respond to human emotions. We discuss the types of sensory data computers can read, like faces and inflection but also heat-mapping and pupil dilation. We also discuss how this capability might lead to a future that’s worse for liars but better for the impulsive or depressed. Will better emotional computing lead to video games that adjust their difficulty to keep you from getting too frustrated or to movies that never let anyone get bored?
Relevant Links
- Unfair Advantages of Emotional Computing by Peter Diamandis
- Goose Bump Detector Senses Your Skin Crawling on IEEE Spectrum
- Bodily Maps of Emotions on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science site
- Nevermind, a game by Erin Reynolds
- USA Today article and video misreporting about that Facebook study