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Home > Sex Tech > New Emotion-detecting Technology Opens Doors to Wide-ranging Sexual Possibilities

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Home›Sex Tech›New Emotion-detecting Technology Opens Doors to Wide-ranging Sexual Possibilities

New Emotion-detecting Technology Opens Doors to Wide-ranging Sexual Possibilities

By M. Christian
February 3, 2017
2872
1

How can remote sensing change your sex life?

A group at MIT is making it possible to detect someone's emotions with radio waves.

In a development that could have wide-ranging implications—and intriguing erotic possibilities—researchers at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) have developed a method of reading human emotions using wireless signals.

The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) team, made up of Professor Dina Katabi, Fadel Adib, and Mingmin Zhao, presented their new technology at the Association of Computing Machinery’s International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom) conference in October of last year.

How do you feel?

Before the development of the what the MIT team is calling the EQ-Radio system, the only way to reliably read someone’s emotions was through intrusive, and uncomfortable, body sensors—as in standard lie detection equipment.

What EQ-Radio does is bounce wireless signals off a subject, measuring fluctuations in their pulse rate and respiration.

“Just by knowing how people breathe and how their hearts beat in different emotional states, we can look at a random person’s heartbeat and reliably detect their emotions,” Mingmin Zhao said in a press release.

Remarkable accuracy at a distance

What’s really extraordinary about EQ-Radio is its precision. Using their new algorithm, the team has achieved an 87% accuracy rate in reading emotions like anger, sadness, happiness, and excitation.

Professor Dina Katabi said, “Our work shows that wireless signals can capture information about human behavior that is not always visible to the naked eye.”

The MIT team envisions their technology being integrated into smarthome systems, being used for everything from fine-tuning various forms of entertainment to keeping a digital eye on the mental health of the residents.

“We believe that our results could pave the way for future technologies that could help monitor and diagnose conditions like depression and anxiety,” Katabi added.

The future of reading emotions

While those are two excellent uses for the emotion-detecting technology, other possibilities come immediately to mind. The first would be a tool for law enforcement: giving officers, especially in hostage situations, a critical negotiation tool.

Then there’s sex—and here’s where things really get interesting. We’ve already seen the development and application of an app that monitors the user’s emotional state, and even going so far as automatically “unfriending” those who cause depression and anxiety. So why not couple that technology with EQ-Radio?

This way people could gain not only the ability to know their own emotional, sexual personal reactions, but also those of the people around them. It would definitely be a way to take a lot of the clumsy guesswork out of meeting, and being intimate with, other people.

Stuffed plush toys that looks like emojis.

Coupled with augmented reality glasses, it could also be an invaluable resource for those who feel challenged in judging other people’s emotional states. A handy icon flashed next to a person’s face immediately informing the wearer that they are happy, sad, upset, or—better yet—turned on.

Similarly, the smarthome use of EQ-Radio could be a great way to enhance sexuality. As the system monitors your behavior from everything from masturbation to partner play, it would know when, exactly, to do things like dim the lights, increase or decrease the temperature, or even tweak the performance of any sex tech being used.

And just think of the teledildonics possibilities: as you and your remote partner are enjoying yourselves, EQ-Radio would be able to invisibly synch you both emotionally as well as physically through similar adjustments to the sex tech hardware.

It could similarly be a key component to the development of sexually responsive artificial intelligence and sexbots. When your synthetic playmate reads you as being nervous, it could become more reassuring. When it detects arousal, it knows to proceed. When it picks up on confusion, it knows when to take things slowly—all without needing to touch a control or speak a command.

How do you feel about all this?

While there’s always the potential this kind of technology could be used inappropriately, it could also be a huge help to those needing assistance in reading other people’s emotions. It could also be a way to help develop a healthier, more satisfying sex life.

It all comes down to how you feel about it—and if you’re unsure about that, then this is where EQ-Radio might just come in.

Image sources: MITCSAIL, Frank Behrens

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.
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