I know this device is for the autistic, but surely we can think of a few other groups who could use this. Copy and paste into word and use Edit-Replacewith to delete "autistic" and plop in "inlaws," "blustering entrepreneurs," or "people with dubious personal hygiene living in their parents basements." Hours of fun for the whole family.
Device warns you if you're boring or irritating
- 29 March 2006
- NewScientist.com news service
- Celeste Biever
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.
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."
Doesn't the whole thing still apply when you do this:
A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help geeks relate to those around them. It will alert its Babylon 5-obsessed user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed. One of the problems facing people with an unstoppable tendency to quote extensively from Monty Python routines 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."
Sad, yes, but only right and just.
raincoaster 
Uh…what’s wrong with talking about Babylon 5? Unparalled fabulousness of science fiction….and don’t get me started on Monty Python. I mean, really!
Don't get you started…EXACTLY!
It's your ability NOT to start up with that, combined with your ability to sense when people are glazing over, that sets you apart from those requiring these devices. You obviously don't know as many undersocialized people as I do; I've been to dinner parties where the repartee consisted of nothing but duelling quotes from Monty Python, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Star Trek: Voyager. And the running commentary in my head that said, "let it go, they can't help it, none of these people have been laid since before Wil Wheaton was a blogger."
Babylon 5 is good, but it's not Shakesfuckingspeare.
I have, on occasion, walked away from one of these pod people mid-dead parrot sketch. They follow; once, the fellow followed me right into the ladies' room, then berated me for "not noticing" where I was going.
Believe me, anyone socially sophisticated enough to take offense at this posting is socially sophisticated enough that they do not fall into the target group.
oooh…you are so easy to rile up!
I only have sf-geeky conversations with like-minded individuals. I am more socialized than that!
But I know what you mean…
I can be in a quiet conversation with a perfectly normal guy, and then it will twig — something in his turn-of-phrase, an inflection, an interestingly timed pause — and I will know…this guy is/was a gamer-geek. No matter how well it’s hidden, it’s always there!
Just wait till I do my post on the Furry convention coming up in October.