Chapter 17 | Page 8b: Emotion-Reading Technology Backfires

Dr. Muskiday tries to turn feelings into data. His emotion-reading technology translates emotions into glowing clouds. As the experiment spirals, it becomes clear that understanding emotions is much messier than measuring them.


Double-Dog Dare!

If you’re looking for something excellent to read, my friend Dave Kellett has a brand-new Kickstarter live right now. It’s packed with never-before-printed comics and is absolutely worth checking out! https://go.evil-inc.net/Double-D


Transcript

(Panel 1)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: Oh, Musky! I’m so PROUD of you!
Dr. Muskiday: You are?

(Panel 2)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: Sure! And I’ll prove it to you.
(She sprays Dr. Muskiday’s “Project: SMILE” mist onto her chest with a “Pft Pft Pft.”)

(Panel 3)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: That’s odd. I’m definitely experiencing a twenty-five percent increase in admiration.
(He looks at her as she stands confidently in front of him.)

(Panel 4)
Dr. Muskiday: (sighs) I know. I wrote your approval algorithm.
(He buries his head in his hands.)

(Panel 5)
Computer (stylized): Disappointment detected. Initiating emotional buoyancy protocols.
(She stands looking at the dejected Muskiday.)

(Panel 6)
Computer (stylized): Activating file: hold_and_squeeze_those_big_puppies.exe
(She touches her lips in contemplation.)

(Panel 7)

(Two holographic dogs appear — Oso the Pug and Digby the Dachshund from the ‘Sheldon’ comic strip— to a now overjoyed Muskiday, who grabs and cuddles them gleefully.)

 Holo-Clone Miss Match: Well… I AM proud of you!


Alt Text

Comic strip featuring Holo-Clone Miss Match (a holographic clone of Miss Match) and Dr. Muskiday (a small, humanoid fly in a lab coat) having a humorous interaction. Miss Match tells Muskiday she’s proud of him. She sprays Dr. Muskiday’s “Project: SMILE” mist onto her chest with a “Pft Pft Pft.” It fails to trigger the expected results. She insists that her admiration has increased by 25% even though it’s not indicated by the mist. Muskiday sighs, saying he knows because he wrote her approval algorithm. Detecting his disappointment, Muskiday’s computer initiates an “emotional buoyancy protocol,” executing a file named “hold_and_squeeze_those_big_puppies.exe.” Two holographic dogs appear — Oso the Pug and Digby the Dachshund from the ‘Sheldon’ comic strip — to a now overjoyed Muskiday, who grabs and cuddles them gleefully. The dogs cameo from the "Sheldon" comic strip to promote Dave Kellett’s Kickstarter book, "Double Dog Dare," available at doubledogbook.com

Evil Inc “virus”

Evil Inc is not delivering a virus

This week, I have received a couple of e-mails telling me that some anti-virus software is flagging the Evil Inc site on every load.

First off, thanks to those people who alerted me. I really appreciate it!

Secondly, I have determined that the culprit is, in fact, the Shoutbox to the lower right of this blog. To the best of my ability to discrn — which is not my ability at all, rather the ability of the very intelligent people I rely upon for support — this is not a virus.

“It sounds like F-secure has an invalid signature that is throwing off false positives. This happens sometimes,” said my esteemed colleauge.

“Ahhhhhh,” I said, realizing that I wouldn’t know an invalid signature if it bit me in the nose.

Anyway, if you are using F-Secure Antivirus software, and if it is registering a similar warning when you visit my site, you can help expedite a fix to this problem.

Go here and fill out the form to explain what is happening.

You can list my Web site’s URL, plus the virus the software claims that Evil Inc has — Exploit.JS.ADODB.Stream.v — , for them to verify. Hopefully they can update their signatures to fix the issue.