22 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Being in a Car Affects Our Sense of Personal Space
Psychologists have noted that people driving a motor car react in a manner that is
often completely unlike their normal social behaviour as regards their territories. It seems that a motor vehicle sometimes has a magnifying effect on the size of a person’s personal space. In some cases, their territory is magnified by up to ten times the normal size, so the driver feels that he has a claim to an area of 9 to 10 metres in front of and behind his motor car. When another driver cuts in front o...Folksonomies: perception personal space
Folksonomies: perception personal space
The car magnifies our personal space perception, making us angry when others violate it.
11 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
WWW Makes the Improbable Normal
Cops, emergency room doctors, and insurance actuarists all know it. They realize how many crazy impossible things happen all the time. A burglar gets stuck in a chimney, a truck driver in a head on collision is thrown out the front window and lands on his feet, walks away; a wild antelope knocks a man off his bike; a candle at a wedding sets the bride's hair on fire; someone fishing off a backyard dock catches a huge man-size shark. In former times these unlikely events would be private, know...YouTube and other videos capture the many unusual occurrences happening all over the world out of sheer statistical probability, making them seem average.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Computers Can't Do Everything
The … truck driver is processing a constant stream of [visual, aural, and tactile] information from his environment. … To program this behavior we could begin with a video camera and other sensors to capture the sensory input. But executing a left turn against oncoming traffic involves so many factors that it is hard to imagine discovering the set of rules that can replicate a driver’s behavior. …
Articulating [human] knowledge and embedding it in software for all but highly structur...Folksonomies: employment automation
Folksonomies: employment automation
They cannot drive trucks yet, but how long until they can?