A group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a EQ-Radio which uses wireless technology to understand human emotions. If successful, the MIT project could have an impact on the healthcare system and the entertainment industry. Technologists speculate the EQ-Radio could impact other facets of human life, including the gambling industry.
Professor Dina Katabi is overseeing the development of the EQ-Radio device. According to Katabi, the wireless signals can be used to detect changes in a person's heartbeat and breathing. This data in turn can be used to gauge a person's changing mental state.
EQ-Radio Reads a Person's Emotions
Using an algorithm, the device can predict whether a person is feeling angry, happy, or sad. According to the MIT team, the device so far has a 87% accurate rating.
The developers believe the device is going to have a major impact in two areas: healthcare and entertainment. Movie producers can show a film to a test group to get a real-time indication of the viewers' emotional reactions to a scene.
Uses of EQ-Radio
Since these reactions are charted in real time, the movie-makers can determine how an audience reacts to each work, much less each scene. Test audiences are likely to become more accurate, which means movies are likely to be entertaining to a wider audience -- or perhaps more formulaic than ever before.
The same technology could be used by political campaigns to get a visceral reactions from potential voters. Campaigns already test-market ideas and phrases, but the EQ-Radio would give a more accurate set of data on the audience feedback.
Medical and Home Uses
In a medical environment, the EQ-Radio would be able to gauge a patient's mental state during therapy. Such reactions should prove invaluable to help therapists in determining their client's psyche, perhaps revealing truths which otherwise might remain concealed.
In a home environment, a house's lighting, sound, and television systems could be programmed to give the resident the best atmosphere for their particular emotional state. Once again, having a pleasant everyday environment would make a person's life more rewarding and harmonious.
Gambling Possibilities
The question is how the EQ-Radio would work in a gambling setting. A look at how the industry has been changed by Heads-Up Display (HUD) technology is instructive to the discussion.
In many ways, HUDs have revolutionized the way online poker is played. Many believe HUDs have made Internet card playing worse, and have called for a ban of HUds like PokerTracker 3 and Holdem Manager.
Tracking and Analysis Software
HUDs use tracking and analysis software to build a database of information, which can be used alongside a calculator tool such as Holdem Indicator to make accurate predictions about opponent tendencies. HUDs have become controversial, and many poker websites have banned the use of them.
The EQ-Radio would be a much more advanced way to predict an opponent's upcoming decisions. In an online poker setting, such a device likely never would have much of an impact. Even if a computer had such tech on it, the player presumably could turn it off when gambling.
Sunglasses with EQ-Radio Tech
In a brick-and-mortar setting, though, the EQ-Radio could have a tremendous impact. The early speculation is such technology eventually could be miniaturized and placed on otherwise normal-seeming sunglasses. A player could walk up to the table with an instant advantage.
Such speculation presumes a scenario 5 or 10 years from now. The idea of an EQ-Radio advantagewould have a reaction. Once players and casinos caught on, they would recent gamblers using a James Bond 007 device to beat their opponents.
Perhaps that edge would be short-lived, though. Casinos might finally ban sunglasses from the poker table, like some players have advocated for years and years.
Comments