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I've always thought it would be fun to make experimental hardware devices with this type of technology. An example: Build a solar-powered device that you stick
by adriand 6y ago
I've always thought it would be fun to make experimental hardware devices with this type of technology. An example:
Build a solar-powered device that you stick up in a tree in a forested patch near an urban center where kids go and have bush parties/bonfires/etc. The device would include a text-to-speech synthesizer. It's dormant most of the time, but designed to activate when people are around it at night. As the "admin", you get a notification when it turns on and can receive some low-res video/audio from the scene, and you can send it messages that are read aloud using the TTS synth.
I imagine it would be quite disconcerting if you were smoking pot in the woods and suddenly a voice in the trees started talking to you.
- dmix 6y agoCall the git repo "moses" or "burning-bush".
- somehnguy 6y agoWhile kinda funny to imagine up I would hope somewhere in the process between developing the hardware and physically hanging it in the tree you would have a 'oh no!' moment and realize just how creepy what you're doing is :)
- bttrfl 6y agoAttaching devices to trees is actually a serious challenge that people are working on in order to provide better fire detection systems. Major obstacle is charging and there were, unsuccessful AFAIK, attempts to charge them using the energy provided by trees themselves.
- Apofis 6y agoBrilliant! Get this man investments!
- dane-pgp 6y agoWho is going to fund a company whose business model involves making people hear mysterious voices from on high? Well, I suppose angel investors might.
- Nextgrid 6y agoJust replace the creepy voices with ads and watch the money roll in.
- culturestate 6y agoIn college, some friends and I tried to build a detection system that would predict conversation lulls in public spaces - like when you're in a restaurant and it randomly gets quiet - so we could insert premium audio ads at those moments. We never got it working, but when I see stuff like this sometimes I still think about it.
- black_puppydog 6y agowow just let them be. they're surveilled enough as is without literally the trees having ears...
- Confiks 6y agoI can imagine such a device would be quite disconcerting to Winston and Julia as well, hidden away in a natural clearing; around a tiny grassy knoll surrounded by tall saplings that shut it in completely.
- stjo 6y agoOrwell underestimated our ability to make surveillance devices tiny and sprinkle them everywhere
- jamestimmins 6y agoHe also underestimated our willingness to buy our own surveillance devices and put them in our homes
- DenisM 6y agoEavesdropping is illegal in a number of states.