I have a feeling that the person receiving the email will be a lot better than your AI is at knowing if the person is depressed or suicidal.
But maybe he/she would not be willing to contact mental health professionals without your permission?
Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
11–20 of 30 posts
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#12Why not? Have you read "1984"?
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#13what's wrong with suicide? all of us die at some point. i'd rather die at a point of my own choosing. so suicide is the best death option (for me!), and since i'm going to die, it's best if i (eventually) commit suicide.
Now there's this problem of committing suicide "too early"...presumably the right cutoff point would be the point when life stops being worth living. which then raises the problem of knowing when that is (i.e. teenagers getting dumped and assuming, erroneously, that life is no longer worth living). thus, having a web app for calculating that point would be REALLY convenient (hint hint!)
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#14"AIish" is my new favorite word. Let's apply this principle to some other words.
"I'm sorry that your father died, but we aren't really a hospital... we're hospitalish."
"I'm not a plumber, but I am plumberish."
"If I just came right out and said that strong AI is a joke, and that I wouldn't necessarily trust an AI to sort my socks, let alone recommend to government authorities that I be committed to a mental institution, it would not be subtle. But it might be subtleish."
Also, you do realize that your plan would permit anyone who can forge a FROM header to conduct a denial-of-service attack on your entire life, don't you?
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#15The estate tax is a better monetization plan.
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#16what's wrong with suicide? all of us die at some point. i'd rather die at a point of my own choosing. so suicide is the best death option (for me!), and since i'm going to die, it's best if i (eventually) commit suicide. Now there's this problem of committing suicide "too early"...presumably the right cutoff point would be the point when life stops being worth living. which then raises the problem of knowing when tha…
You are the first hit in my suicide filter, and I didn't even need access to your mail client. Please pay up.
If you were being remotely serious about suicide, here is what I decided at a young age when I first thought about the subject when trying to decide whether a religion was true or not: If this whole existence is worthless and meaningless, make the best of it while you are here. If this whole existence is part of something bigger, make the best of it while you are here. There really is really no problem or ailment that makes suicide a viable option.
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#17You sure have a lot of faith in "the authorities". Should they be able to forcibly medicate you into a vegetative state for life so that you never kill yourself?
A better use of technology is to make people's lives better so they don't feel suicidal.
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#18Every time I see a post like this I'm sure amichail wrote it, does it happens to you?
I'm sure google ads will show some health club publicity with that kind of content on an email.
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#19Clippy pops up
It looks like you're going to commit suicide.
Would you like to:
- Buy some pills.
- Buy some ammo. ...
Re: Ask YC: Why not prevent suicides by automatically spying on people's emails?
#20Why not have televisions that watch back and make sure we're not making bombs? Why not have random searches and seizures if there's a chance we could save a life? Why not put GPS tracking into every car, every person, so we could find out where they are if they go missing? Slippery slopes. And don't call me Shirley.
> Why not put GPS tracking into every car This is already here... GM offers use of it's OnStar system to law enforcement so they can hear what you are saying while in your car, OnStar also has GPS tracking. > every person Your cellular phone already does, even when it is turned off.
OnStar is designed specifically only to work in two instances: 1. Someone presses the blue button in the car manually, or 2. the car detects an accident and automatically calls OnStar and the police.
It doesn't "hear what you're saying while in your car" just randomly.