Letting Computers Read Our Minds: What Should We Share With Them?

Emotiv's new EEG deviceYesterday, the NewScientist used the news of Adam Wilson performing the first electroencephalogram (EEG) -signaled tweet, to remind us of some other tech tools hitting the marketplace that read brain waves.

(Side note: it gives me a wry smile to think about the self-propagating effects of "Twitter news." The network effect feeding the growth of the network.)

This hit me, as it may some of you, with a "Wow!" The technology I knew about, I just had no idea it was so close to becoming a consumer packaged good.  The story highlights two companies, Emotiv and NeuroSky, that are releasing devices designed initially to function as video game devices. (I suspect that, as space technologies were once well known for spinning off into broader applications, the same will be true of video games.)

While some of the comments in the NewScientist story are hyperbolically leaping ahead to the government reading our minds, the initial thing that piqued my interest was the note that these devices can "read emotions." Emotiv sees this as a way to enhance video game avatars by animating them in coordination with the device's read of a user's emotions. My thought is that this might provide "too much information."

You see, I've become a fan of the TV drama Lie To Me, in which a detective team uncovers people's lies and emotions due to the microexpressions that all people reveal instinctually due to emotions--expressions that leak out just before we might hide them through self-control.

This is a concept I remembered from my college psychology classes, and it is something I even pick up on occasionally. But usually I don't, and usually most people don't. And, to be honest, I'd rather we keep that little bit of mystery going. Although, I suppose this would open us up to incredibly honest two-way digital conversations if we want to have them in the future.

And the "reading your mind" fears I noted above aren't completely far fetched. In fact, there are ethical discussions now underway about how neural imaging will be used in the future--far beyond video game avatars.

The most robust discussions so far have been in the life sciences field concerning the use of these techniques for medical prognosis.  But another early issue on the radar screen is the possible use of neural imaging in court cases. Could they eventually become "scientifically proven" lie detectors?

Tricky policy decisions are ahead as these devices become more and more prevalent. Here's hoping that as we tap further into the frontier of the mind, it isn't as chaotic as the wild wild West.

Ford's Fiesta Movement: What Successes Might Big B2C Brands Have With Social Media?

I'm going to snag a topic that would fit in well over at Aaron's Verdantic blog--the use of social media to sell Ford's new, highly fuel efficient car, The Fiesta.

It was a post over the weekend by Chris Brogan, and his referral to Pete Cashmore's post over at Mashable that first tuned me into this campaign for the US launch of the car which won't occur until 2010.

The effort began months ago with Ford soliciting applications (over 4,000 were received) from active online bloggers, of which they have chosen 100 for its Fiesta Movement. These "digerati" are each being given a Fiesta for sixth months, and they are expected to detail, with full honesty, their experiences with, and impressions of, the car as they drive it and complete various assigned "missions."

Ford's hope is to help improve its brand image with the younger US public. Heck, at least Ford is still holding on to some brand value among US car companies. They were ranked 49th in the 2008 Interbrand/BusinessWeek's Best Global Brands List (slipping from 19th in 2004), while GM and Chrysler haven't even made the top 100 for any of the past 5 years.

What I found interesting about the two posts is that Cashmore starts with a specific pondering about whether social media can help drive car sales, and then Brogan broadens this out:

Once we get past the kumbaya answers like “everyone must join the conversation,” we drive directly into the “how exactly does this sell more tractors?” types of questions.

Both believe the answer is that social media will positively effect sales, but they lack some certainty.

I'm initially surprised by this bit of hesitation, considering the examples of Monty Python, BlendTec and Dell brought up by Cashmore (not to mention lots of other examples detailed in a book I'm sure they've both read, Groundswell). I can even throw out an entire music genre built up in the late-1990s from simple "discussion board" tools and the bands' willingness to share free recordings of their music.

But I think their momentary hesitation is really about whether big brands in the B2C realm can achieve great sales through social media.

It's one thing if you have a great product or service and can build a successful niche market through a cadre of even just a few evangelists, it's another thing to be a multi-billion dollar behemoth and find the same relative impact.

Another issue is the fact that the broader adoption of social media is a relatively new phenomenon and, from my reading, there aren't many cases yet detailing specific effects on the bottom line for many of the companies that are lauded as being successful social media brands. (Other appropriate, goal-oriented (non-financial) achievements of social media are a bit clearer already.)

As people commenting on Cashmore's and Brogan's posts are already noting, its likely that most of the "beta testers" will have positive impressions of the Fiesta. I suspect it will be like the BzzAgent effect so well documented in this New York Times piece from 2004. Even with no pressure to like a product, most people have a positive impression of anything they are given a chance to try out before it's released to the masses.

Here's hoping that Ford has planned out some clear metrics for this campaign, and that they will choose to share these analyses.  They will naturally be imperfect, however, since the car itself will be such an innovative item in the US market when it is launched, it will be hard to determine exactly what the added value of the Fiesta Movement is on its sales.