Hacker News Reader

Comment by DonHopkins | Hacker News Reader

Shaking a red sign that says "STOP" seems infinitely more satisfying than shaking any other kind of sign.

I get a perverse pleasure out of setting my GPS destination far in the opposite direction of where I'm actually driving, so it constantly tries to talk me into turning around every exit, just so I can enjoy the simple pleasure of not doing what it tells me to do.

View on HN

My son and I went 2 days home from Pittsburg, with the gps trying to get us to turn around and return to the waffle house just outside town. We enjoyed imagining behind its polite exterior, it colorfully swearing at us inside for systematically ignoring it.

Ha, literal rage against a machine! I find it interesting that you enjoy injecting artificial anxiety into your life. In contrast, I try to continuously minimize minor daily annoyances.

Just the opposite if we read the comment again. Its enjoyable, not anxiety-inducing.

I got that it's enjoyable for OP - but it would bug the hell out of me. I found this difference surprising.

Try working for TomTom for a few years. Then you'll have a different perspective about those accursed "personal navigation devices".

They didn't appreciate my proposal to develop the TomTomagotchi: a PND with a simulated personality that begs you to drive it all around town to various points of interest it desires to visit in order to satisfy its cravings and improve its mood. I'm sure there's a revenue model getting drive through Burger Kings and car washes to pay for product placements.

Here are a couple of short hidden camera one minute movies about frustrated robots we made at the Stupid Fun Club.

Stupid Fun Club's "Servitude" One Minute Movie about Robot Servitude, written by Will Wright. Robot brain and personality simulation programmed by Don Hopkins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXsUetUzXlg

Stupid Fun Club's "Empathy" One Minute Movie about Robot Empathy, written by Will Wright. Robot brain and personality simulation programmed by Don Hopkins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXrbqXPnHvE

And if you thought recalcitrant robots were hard to control:

Pet Rock Remote Control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg

(If you want your pet rock to be obedient, you just have to carefully choose which commands you tell it to do.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com