[Cyborg] safe graduated pain administration ?

[Todd Anderson]

Hmm,  it seems like pain is energetically expensive.  How about bad smells?  You could have two solutions which, when mixed, created some noxious odor that you'd 1) not appreciate yourself, and 2) need to explain to those around you!  Call it the "Farts of Monotony"!

... fresh out the Octotod pod ...

On Sep 30, 2010, at 0:22, David Molnar <dmolnar at gmail.com> wrote:

> hey,
> 
> I've had an idea in my head for a little bit, which was inspired by
> the xkcd irc bot ROBOT9000 and the PainStation[0,1]. Thought I would
> ask here about a question concerning it... Suppose you had a thing
> that could listen to what you were saying, determine if you are saying
> a phrase that you had already said in the past. If you are in fact
> repeating yourself, administer pain.
> 
> The idea is to encourage original speech and to discourage idle talk.
> 
> Let's leave aside the tricky questions of how to understand human
> language exactly or how to exactly chop up phrases to quantify
> originality. For now.
> 
> What method should be used for pain administration?
> 
> Electric shock is the classic, but I'm not sure if that will be safe
> when applied repeatedly through the day. In particular, I'm worried
> about heart arrythmias. I have some family history here that makes me
> specifically cautious.
> 
> The PainStation uses heat and flogging in addition to electric shock.
> Flogging is ok but kind of bulky and requires some mechanical
> engineering. Heat may have a problem if the thing is worn under
> clothes, and I expect it is not energy efficient.
> 
> The requirements that come to mind
> 
> 1) Noticeable pain -- you need to realize that you said something unoriginal
> 2) Graduated pain -- if you continue to be unoriginal, you can
> experience more pain
> 3) Safety --  if you administer pain at all unoriginal utterances
> during the day, you will still be alive and healthy at the end of the
> day, no long term ill effects
> 4) Hidden or overt -- works both in a thing that announces the pain
> administration and in a thing that is hidden from others
> 5) Cost effective -- can be incorporated into a thing for a reasonable price
> 6) Mobile energy friendly -- will last all day in a thing that has
> some ``reasonable" battery
> 
> Thanks much for any thoughts!
> 
> David Molnar
> 
> [0] http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/01/14/robot9000-and-xkcd-signal-attacking-noise-in-chat/
> [1] http://www.painstation.de/peu.html
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