Can technology read emotions? There is a computer scientist named Rana el Kaliouby who is working on just that.
El Kaliouby is the leader of a Massachusetts based company called?Affectiva of Waltham, which started at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was inspired to integrate emotions and technology while she was in grad school in London, far away from her family in native Egypt. Though el Kaliouby had her laptop to keep in contact with family, she yearned to express the loneliness she felt. ?Then, she tried to develop a technology that read and communicated facial expressions. She wants to use this innovative technology to combat mental illness. El Kaliouby notices those with depression have slower facial expressions, and believes a device can flag emotions over the course of time. She hopes this data can pick up facial expressions when you’re down, or when something is off. She hopes that data can flag family, friend, and/or a doctor to help you. They’re already companies interested in what Affectiva of Waltham builds. A movie company wants to use this technology to study which parts of the movie are the funniest. El Kaliouby believes such technologies can even train doctors in empathy and studying side effects of medication. She even gives TED talks on this issue.
I truly believe Rana el Kaliouby’s intentions are honorable. From her personal experience, she sees a need that can help a lot of people. Her company is working to fulfill that need. Technology is already being used to help those with ALS and autism. So medical technology, when used with righteous and honorable intentions, can help and even save many. But my gut tells me somebody, or some institution or organization, could twist this into something sinister, like privacy invasion, spying, hacking, or even worse. Unfortunately, it’s happened before. Am I being too cynical here?