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I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

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Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#41

Post by frogpelt »

pseudolus wrote: post #13
butwhywhyoh wrote: post #3

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

The dystopia is already upon us. Facial recognition was apparently deployed in a school in China to track students' emotions and actions. [0]. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/china-school-facial-recognit...

China has been dystopian for decades.

The real bummer is that even free countries are starting to embrace the same methodologies. When Australia, Canada and the US start heading toward the abyss of surveillance/lock-down states you know things are not looking good for the planet.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#42

Post by throwawaynay »

butwhywhyoh wrote: post #3

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

I actually tried launching that last year lol, I had a similar code to OP(except I was more thinking about sending jokes or meditation videos)

The conversion rate of the landing page were very low so I didn't go further

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#43

Post by [deleted] »

butwhywhyoh wrote: post #3

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

[deleted]

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#45

Post by jazzyjackson »

mox1 wrote: post #32
butwhywhyoh wrote: post #3

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

This was a scene in the movie Don't Look Up. A cellphone company CEO (a Zukerburg type character) introduces the 9.5 update, which includes emotion sensors. When you are sad, it automatically shows you pictures of cats. So yes, I do. Edit: Here is the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jTHBBkillM&t=96s (My bad it was the 14.3 update and dogs riding chickens)

> Zukerburg type character

I was trying to put my finger on who he was emulating (besides the same actor’s character in Ready Player One), I was very pleased to hear Duncan Trussel’s take in his last podcast (493), he thinks the character is lifted from the head of the suicide cult “Heavens Gate”, note the pauses in speech and the ever-lifted eyebrows [0]. Basically framing the geo-engineering/tech-will-save-us crowd as a suicide cult.

[0] https://youtu.be/AqSZhwu1Rwo

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#46

Post by theonething »

Would be interesting to use this to track your facial emotion in relation to what you are doing at your computer; e.g. facebooking, reading news, working, etc.

If you're a developer, what kind of programming you're doing, language, platform, etc. Could scientifically prove once and for all whether or not Ruby is optimized for programmer happiness.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#48

Post by sneak »

duxup wrote: post #2

Sometimes I wonder if I might buy into The Matrix / Colossus: The Forbin Project / our AI overlords if I felt it actually cared about me / was whimsical enough ...

Colossus/Guardian did exactly the thing it was built to do, and that humans claim to want: prevent war. I think that's a pretty good track record and Forbin overreacted a bit.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#49

Post by rootsudo »

butwhywhyoh wrote: post #3

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

I did. Not that hard to move from injecting cats to inject chemicals or newest novel research chemical to formulate happiness. Imagine if a business can jump on that as a subscription service.

"Sign up Today, never be sad again." Sort of a opposite to the dopamine feedback addiction loop that powers social media and cell phones.

Actually, wait, ycombinator is open for startups...

Can just replace a timed morphine drip with a non-scheduled analog, make it an inhalant that ties into the HVAC and measures ppm so it's non-invasive.

It does have potential.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#50

Post by actually_a_dog »

ivraatiems wrote: post #4

I solved this problem in a lower-tech way by simply configuring the area behind my workstation as a cat bed. Now, I can turn around and enjoy looking at my cat at any time, as she loves her bed and rarely leaves it. Stress eliminated! Yes, she is taking Series A funding in the form of wet food, if anyone is interested.

Isn't any warm spot essentially pre-configured as a cat bed?
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