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Comment by togasystems | Hacker News Reader

What about the rest of our capabilities using our other senses (sound, smell, taste)? Does anybody think that we will incorporate them into future interfaces more?

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Sound probably. But I doubt smell and taste would ever play large roles in UI design - it isn't a huge part of how we interact with the world aside from the obvious bits about eating.

Smell is an interesting one. Memory along with visual is tied to smells. A lot of UI is based off of memory recognition. It would neat to see a UI based off of smell (i.e. smell flowers if hit right button)

That would be so cool! I bet it would also be useful for educational software. You load up the chem program for the first time in months, and immediately smell your studying chem smell, lets say hazelnut coffee, and the memories start flowing back.

What would be cool is if you could (optionally) smell the chemicals you're learning about to further cement them in your memory.

When we get one those neural interfaces where a computer is implanted entirely in our nervous system, it'd be great if when I "wonder" what that thing taste like, I'd actually get to taste it, through the computer interfacing with my nerves.

Say I want to buy some flower for my spouse, at my the whims of my thoughts, a smattering array of flower images get into my head. I "wander" to the one I think my spouse would like, and when I feel like I want to smell it, I do. I'd then decide "Yes, buy it", and the order gets sent.

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