Learn from the mistakes of others

newscientist reports

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help people with autism relate to those around them. It will alert its autistic user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed.

they've called it an "emotional social intelligence prosthetic" device ...

One of the problems facing people with autism is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

the article is interesting, and also amusing. thanks reverancepavane :)

[the following rant bears no reflection on reverancepavane, or anyone else i know. this article just pushed some buttons, 'tis all. thought i'd share some of my thoughts and feelings]

but then again, this has reminded me about one thing that really, really irritates me about autism research(ers).

they're so bloody condescending.

( rant inside )

anyway, back to the article, which ends this way:

Timothy Bickmore of Northeastern University in Boston, who studies ways in which computers can be made to engage with people's emotions, says the device would be a great teaching aid. "I would love it if you could have a computer looking at each student in the room to tell me when 20 per cent of them were bored or confused."

in other words, even neurotypicals can't always tell - or is it that they can get so self-absorbed that they too miss "obvious" social cues?

me, i just ask if i'm not sure. bloody people and their computers.

*wink*

newscientist reports

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help people with autism relate to those around them. It will alert its autistic user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed.

they've called it an "emotional social intelligence prosthetic" device ...

One of the problems facing people with autism is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

the article is interesting, and also amusing. thanks reverancepavane :)

[the following rant bears no reflection on reverancepavane, or anyone else i know. this article just pushed some buttons, 'tis all. thought i'd share some of my thoughts and feelings]

but then again, this has reminded me about one thing that really, really irritates me about autism research(ers).

they're so bloody condescending.

( rant inside )

anyway, back to the article, which ends this way:

Timothy Bickmore of Northeastern University in Boston, who studies ways in which computers can be made to engage with people's emotions, says the device would be a great teaching aid. "I would love it if you could have a computer looking at each student in the room to tell me when 20 per cent of them were bored or confused."

in other words, even neurotypicals can't always tell - or is it that they can get so self-absorbed that they too miss "obvious" social cues?

me, i just ask if i'm not sure. bloody people and their computers.

*wink*