Silly News
Boffins develop phone call boredom
spotter
You've got to be very careful with technology that tries to define
human motivation – computers are lousy at it.
This latest project by MIT is a case in point. It's well known that
the human emotional state effects voice patterns and that certain
feelings can drastically change your speech. Try asking the most
attractive person in a club to dance and you'll see it in action
yourself. But it's a long way from that to expecting a computer
program to be able to predict emotions.
Nearly a decade ago we tested a lie detection system that uses similar
technology and the results were disappointing to say the least. If the
results were to be believed our girlfriends didn’t love us, our bosses
were lying to us and so were the press officers. OK, the last one
might have been true, but the point is that if you place too much
trust in these things you'll come a cropper.
