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Small World Machine

Computer implant which remembers faces
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A computer with vast storage is connected to the portion of the brain used for recognition of faces. Its purpose is to ensure that no face is ever forgotten and to aid the implantee in remembering the last place and time (s)he saw the person.

Motivation: We are not, truly, surrounded by strangers. We see the same people over and over without remembering most of them. Familiarity breeds kindness, good will, sense of community, etc.

roselma, Jul 07 2001

Tampa (1), scanning 100,000 superbowl visitors http://www.latimes....t_cameras010201.htm
"The cameras identified 19 people with criminal histories, none of them of a "significant" nature". [jutta, Jul 07 2001]

Tampa (2), surveillance cameras in Ybor http://www.cnn.com/...urity.ap/index.html
They had 22 linked up in a smaller trial before, now it's 36. No word about how successful this is. Note that the cameras aren't new; just the link to the software is. (Also note that the "criminal histories" of the 19 found in (1) have by now turned into "outstanding arrest warrants"; I wonder if that is true.) [jutta, Jul 07 2001]

Viisage FaceFinder http://www.viisage.com/facefinder.htm
The software used in Tampa "meets the demands for a modern surveillance identification solution." I guess this idea would be FaceFinder Personal Implant Edition 1.0. [jutta, Jul 07 2001]

[link]






       I hope we don't hear that "It's a small, small world after all" jingle every time. Ex-Girlfriends Uncle wrote that. For me, Hell would be riding that Dismaland Ride eternally.
thumbwax, Jul 07 2001
  

       I like this idea, but I think it's a little scary. It reminds me of a case from "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" of these twins. Idiot savants who could recall all of the events from any day in their lives if you gave them the date.
futurebird, Jul 07 2001
  

       No sooner said than done, futurebird:
Sept. 14, 1986:
While travelling through Central California on a detour, I noticed there was a sign outside a retirement home. I detoured myself off the detour so I could photograph the sign outside the aforementioned establishment - "Gross Convalescent Hospital"
thumbwax, Jul 07 2001
  

       There have been a few attempts to bake this at places like the MIT Media Lab, for example (wearable computers with face recognition, which will overlay information about someone it recognizes on your field of vision). See Google.
wiml, Jul 08 2001
  

       Peter, Tampa had them during the Superbowl to keep known terrorists from trying to blow the place up. <Me, I think they should have been encouraged, but I hate football...> They've been removed. I don't think they caught anyone, but the thing wasn't blown up...
StarChaser, Jul 08 2001
  

       Same system, different stages. Tampa successfully tested the prototype during the superbowl (which StarChaser remembers) and has now stepped up the level of integration with existing surveillance cameras in Ybor city (which PeterSealy remembers) to contiguously scan for faces of people they would like to find.
jutta, Jul 08 2001
  

       Hmm. Guess I missed it, which is not difficult, as I don't follow the news.   

       Bet the cameras start getting trashed...
StarChaser, Jul 08 2001
  

       Why restrict information exchange with your field of vision? Remember the idea of those pagers that give off your interests and such to the people around you? I think it was in popular science or something. Use the same type of broadcast tech here. Just catch all that info at will from everyone surrounding you, including their faces. It'll no longer be a race to upgrade your computer... it'll turn into a race to upgrade _you_.
RayfordSteele, Jan 01 2002
  

       Surely the first people to have these would seem incredibly creepy, just by coincidence:   

       "Hi, didn't i see you three weeks ago at Edinburgh station? And then a few days later at that little wine bar with the green tables? And about a week ago looking through the newsagents..."
sadie, Apr 24 2002
  

       <I thought this was going to be> A small protocol for checking the six-degrees theory. ie your implant downloads a list from everyone you meet, of everyone they know, and everyone *they* know, and so on. The data overhead peaks at [file size per person] x 6-10 Gig [Earth's population], so it's not impossible within five-ten years. Then you search for the name af the person you are seeking, and the SWM tells you who to speak to first, and who they should pass the message on to etc. </ITTWGTB>
BunsenHoneydew, Aug 31 2002
  

       Cool idea, if still a little doughy.
koolcj291, Dec 02 2003
  
      
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