Perhaps I'm just slow, but see this (http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=704328501&channel=49798904) and this (http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,451-page,1-bid,0/video.html). Is this for real?

If it is... wow.

Wow indeed. That is...pretty darn cool. Although it strikes me that I know plenty of people who would have trouble with the "using your brain" part...

I don't know if I want it to be real, cuz you just know it'll hit mass markets and we'll all reach totally new levels of laziness...>.> It'll be like something out of a "the future is grim" sci-fi novel. D=

I don't know if I want it to be real, cuz you just know it'll hit mass markets and we'll all reach totally new levels of laziness...>.> It'll be like something out of a "the future is grim" sci-fi novel. D=

While it might have some negative effects, think of the scientific possibilities for this. In one of the videos they talked about NASA using it and creating machines for the elderly.

Oh no! Old, robot-people are going to take over the world after they watch Matlock!

Oh no! Old, robot-people are going to take over the world after they watch Matlock!

And Bonanza.

The Six Million Dollar Grandpa.

Wow.... i'd assume it has to be true, but to be honest I don't think that i'd want it to be either. Whilst it has the power to do so much good in the world, it - like so many other things - can and most likely will corrupt it aswell. Its a scary prospect...

It's like telekinesis!

*Finally looks at the video*

Screw the Wii, it's all about Mii. That'd be fun to play games with that though. And also levitate people with my Robocop skills.

Anyway... hey Kit, where's caboodle?

Definitely cool, but I can see a dangerous potential in video games that set scoring levels on the user's level of rage, for example. You could end up truly bringing about the gamer-hater's cliche, video games stirring players to commit violent acts.

I also see a dangerous potentisl in court-ordered anger management, where someone has a locked on headset that punishes flaring temper, regardless of whether of not the wearer succumbs to his or her urges. Talk about mind control!


Very much carries the potential for being a double-edged sword.

I have heard of computers developed by security agencies that, running on the same kind of tech as a lie-detector, can sense negative emotions and feelings from potential terrorists and criminals and give readings on how negative they're feeling....yeek.

It's like telekinesis!

MIND BULLETS! :D

Also the next phase in political correctness, an appliance that sounds an alarm if the wearer feels resentment or lust when looking at someone.

Sounds like we're heading towards one big witch hunt when its put that way... of course they haven't advertised the negative impacts and possibilities.

...WITCH!

Yeah, it is a scary idea, that we might be policed on out emotions...

They wouldn't make a game off of rage, that's just asking for trouble. Probably something like the thought process of solving a math problem. I've already heard of them doing something like that for an experimental toy train.

Every new technology can be utilized to oppress, in equal measure to its potential to liberate.

They wouldn't make a game off of rage, that's just asking for trouble. Probably something like the thought process of solving a math problem. I've already heard of them doing something like that for an experimental toy train.

Who is "they"? I guarantee someone WILL make exactly such a game.

Who is "they"? I guarantee someone WILL make exactly such a game.

Of course. If money or some other gain can be gotten from it, naturally someone will. The thing about human morality, is that its subjective depending on circumstances. When it's ones own personal good/gain that is at issue, morality can change drastically.

It would get an AO rating from the ESRB before it even touched a shelf. Games like that don't really get sold due to the fact that no one wants to carry them. There may be some small company that would produce such an item, but I don't believe it would cause something that wouldn't have potentially happened anyway. Though it could be an indicator for those who are planning stuff. (Or at least I hope that assumption is correct)

Damn you Big Brother!

Just look at all the games that reward piling up a body count and little else.

Ratings don't always mean all that much, especially when you include Internet distribution.

That may be true, but look at the distance in emotional levels. If I run someone over in a game, do you honestly expect me to do that in real life? If games were to be hyper-realistic, maybe those games wouldn't appeal to as many people as they do.

Perhaps they wouldn't be able to sell one like that, but what about online games? We all know the kind of stuff that is online...

But current games don't directly manipulate emotion.
A feedback loop reinforcing rage, or hate, or other strong emotions could leave the person in a dangerous emotional state. It could also result in a "mood dependency"

(Anyone looking for a theme for the next SS Competition?) <evil grin>

Oooh, that is good, Cogito. Someone needs to tell Torana, when she comes back on.


And by mood dependency, do you mean things like rage becoming addictive? If you're right, that could bring a whole new breed of psychotic serial killers into the world...

Already PMed it :)

I agree, killers, an explosion of thrill seekers, many possibilities, although not all of them dire.

But think of A Clockwork Orange, for example.

Do I have to? The idea is honestly terrifying. It seems we are constantly teetering between a 1984-style totalitarian regime, and the anarchic thrill-seeking world which you have envisioned. And I can easily imagine such emotions to be more addictive than actual narcotics...

Good Sci Fi is about extrapolation. The Fly extrapolates what could go wrong with teleportation technology, for example.

I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read much good sci-fi, and I've never heard of the example you mentioned. I realise that it would make a very good story topic, it just scares the crap out of me.

Here's what my writer brain imagines happening: Rage-based games are released, starting as a sort of underground phenomenon, and then rising to popularity. Video-game-haters, from Jack Thompson to What Would Jesus Play (Look those two parties up, JT in particular is rather sickening) finally seize their chance to prove that some video games are evil, but this results in all video games being perceived as evil. While the government only outlaws those "rage-based" games, the image of all video games in general are irreparably damaged, a negative light having been cast for good. The video game market takes an amazing stagger and is decimated. Meanwhile, the rage-games are cut out of the mainstream, but soon an underground trade and culture based on the games of rage (Ooh, let's call them "Gages", that's nice) develops, from illegal Gage smugglers/dealers to Gage addicts, and the government, already understaffed on the drug war, now has a major new problem to deal with. Soon, popular culture is inspired by this illegal market, and novels about Gage and things pertaining to it become a notably prominent theme in popular books, particularly teenage fiction and action/adventure, raising gore in literature to an all-time high. Films and documentaries about the lives of Gage addicts and smugglers are made, raising sympathy for those whose lives are centered around the games. Within a few decades, protests are being filed to bring back Gages and other violent video games, and the governments of the world have no choice to accept. Soon vast portions of mankind are becoming hooked to Gage as a method of entertainment, anger venting, and escapism. For all those who can afford it, Gage becomes a way of life, both due to the way it takes up so much of their time while they play it, and because its credo of associating violence and anger with being cool quickly seeps into the personality and psyche of an otherwise normal person, especially because the VR games are so realistic. And for those who CAN'T afford it, the act of getting Gages becomes their life goal, raising theft, assault, mobbing, mugging, and all-around crime rates to an amazing high. And since the people they're attacking have already had their darker sides feuled by Gage, the resulting conflicts created between desperate people and unbalanced people send mortality rates skyrocketing. People in high government positions find the world crumbling around them, and are full of pent-up frustration. Since Gage has by now become a society norm for most people, including therapists, the government leaders' therapists and advisors recommend they try Gage as a way of anger management, a way to release their negative emotions. Soon even the uppermost leaders of the world have fallen to addictive Gaging, and as their personalities spiral in proportion to their addictions, international affairs just go down the crapper. Both the infrastructures and exostructures of the world are quickly destroyed as governments are at each other's throats, and sometimes their own. And of course, from there it's only a matter of time until someone launches the nukes......








.....orrrrrr, I could be reading too much into this.
=D
That would be SO COOL to write, though.

so who noticed that the lady in the second video really sucks at her job? Was that mean of me to say? anyways it was hard of me to focus on what she was saying because she was so jolty, and taking moments to think about where she was going. Product could be real. Would be easy to fake though.

It would be quite easy to fake, but for some reason I'm tempted to believe this. It's certainly possible theoretically. And I agree, wordwizard, the woman wasn't particularly good.

I hadn't even seen the second, but god... that was horrible. Monotone voices are so drab. Hopefully I don't any college professors like that.

I have a lecturer who is worse than that. It's actually an effort to stay conscious and focus on what she says. Not that it matters, since most of it's rubbish anyway...


EDIT: Wooo! 3500th post :D

I've never heard of the example you mentioned.
The Fly was a 1958 movie in which a scientist created a teleportation experiment. But a fly was in the teleport chamber with him, and what came out of the other end was a man with the head of a fly, and a fly with the head of a man. The man kept his head covered, and tried to find a way to undo the accident, but became more fly-like in his behavior and thinking, and ended up killing himself (with help) In the final moments we see the fly with the white head trapped in a web, with a spider approaching, and you hear a feeble "Help me! Help me!"

There was a 1986 remake with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Totally crap.

I've heard of that movie a thousand times (You really can't help NOT hearing about it), but I've never actually SEEN it. Kinda like Pulp Fiction, or The Shining.

I still like my end-of-the-world scenario.

Maybe you'll have the chance to write it for an upcoming SS competition :)

Are all of the SS competitions based off of a picture?

Nope. Usually just a concept phrase.

Okay. Firstly: Hasn't these guys watched Terminator?

And secondly: Ghost in the Shell! Wicked.. now when do we get to pick out our new cyborg bodies that match this wicked technology?

It would be quite easy to fake, but for some reason I'm tempted to believe this. It's certainly possible theoretically. And I agree, wordwizard, the woman wasn't particularly good.

I know what you mean, and I agree.

I mean, since one story is covered by PC World that gives it some credibility - on the other hand, if it is real wouldn't we have heard of it before?

Not necessarily. The MoD have some freaky stuff in development, which is all top secret. Bear in mind that the military is generally a decade ahead of the private sector, and this stuff has serious military potential. Imagine UAV controlled by the mind. Just as agile as manned vehicles, and without the danger of casualties.

Not necessarily. The MoD have some freaky stuff in development, which is all top secret. Bear in mind that the military is generally a decade ahead of the private sector, and this stuff has serious military potential. Imagine UAV controlled by the mind. Just as agile as manned vehicles, and without the danger of casualties.

I'd thought about that too - and while it does have potential there - programmed or electronically/remote controlled systems would probably work better - less is depended on a person's concentration.

Well, I don't know. I guess if it is real, and if it is viable, then we'll see it around soon enough.

Daniel. think of it as a third hand for a fighter pilot though. If the pilot could control targeting with a HUD and control the arming and firing, not to mention fly-by-wire targeting after launch by thought...

Basically, if I can see it, I can kill it.

Daniel. think of it as a third hand for a fighter pilot though. If the pilot could control targeting with a HUD and control the arming and firing, not to mention fly-by-wire targeting after launch by thought...

Basically, if I can see it, I can kill it.

I suppose you're right. A sixth sense, eh?