Apparently, they cured cancer, AIDS, spastic colon, and the desire to listen to Jeff Foxworthy, because now they’re handing out master’s degrees for crafting gimmicks.
Anmol Madan, an MIT graduate, is leading a team developing the “Jerk-O-Meter.” It listens to your phone conversation and can tell you if the other person is bored or interested. It can even tell you if you’re bored or interested.
I’m really glad money is being spent on this idea, because frankly, not enough money is being washed down drains or used to light capitalist fat-cats’ cigars. Really. The prospect of the Jerk-O-Meter gives me hope that one day soon, I won’t have to think for myself at all. I won’t even have to use my brain to pick up on the subtle aural clues indicating the other person’s boredom, I’ll just let the phone tell me.
If you can’t tell someone is bored on the other line, maybe interpersonal contact isn’t right for you. Just stick to the message boards and vent about the delay of the DVD boxed set of Battletech to someone who cares. If you can’t help but have boring conversation son the phone, you don’t need some smarmy algorithm shattering your self-delusion. And if you need to be told by said algorithm that you are an interesting person, rather than gleaning that from your friend’s responses, it’s too late for you. Maybe if you’d been hugged more as a child… but I digress.
I’m all for computer’s doing menial, repetitive tasks, like arithmetic, or downloading porn, but not for replacing a basic part of just being a person.
Yeah-when you are nodding to me when i tell you that i have chickens flying out of my ass and aliens invaded central park that usually clues me in that you have lost interest in the conversation.