Wow Japan...

[Ikaruga33]

Goddamitt

Do you actually think the majority of japan wears those?

No of fucking course they dont. The only people who wear those will porbably be the same men who dress up as sailor at the age of 30 or some otakus girlfreind

I doubt youd be able to find someone wearing those

 

[maninahat]

Am I the only one who thinks this is all bullshit? How exactly does a headband "detect brainwaves" and "concentration"? If it was that easy to minaturise this shit, why are CT scanners the size of vans?

a single small sensor, like in an EKG

a CT scanner actually looks at your entire brain and maps out activity.
the single sensor just notes activity in an area and responds to it.
plus, at CT scan can work in the outer brain areas, which is some weird part that the mapping of varies from person to person.

basically, someone rigged an EKG sensor to some electronic bits.

I'm still not very convinced. Detecting brain impulses is all well and good, but normally such devices have dozens of little receivers which you stick all over the head. I find it hard to believe that one sensor in a small box on the side of your head can actually gauge your "attentiveness" and "relaxation" states, especially when relaxation itself still uses a lot of brain activity (you use as much brain power to look at a beautiful sunset as you would to complete a difficult maths puzzle).

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Hm. If I could think of something to put on there besides cat ears, I'd probably get that.

 

[olicon]

Heh. I wanted to make a robotic tail at one point. I like these...

But I can't help but notice the video of 'real' people trying it... The headgear involved is pretty bulky.

Also, the actual behaviour of those ears is really weird. It doesn't look anything at all like how cat-ears behave. XD

(But then, except for anger, cat-ears mostly seem to react to the direction of sounds the cat is trying to focus on.)

I'm guessing it's because this only serves cosmetic function. But I could see some amazing biomedical application for this.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Glad I saw this video, seeing apparently real animal ears on a person walking about might give me considerable pause for thought.

 

[Tsunimo]

I gotta say, that's actually pretty cool

 

[Dexiro]

Ah shit, the fucking furries will be all over this.

Umad?

No but seriously, it doesn't have to appeal to furries, afterall they write or draw on the subject of anthropomorphisism, not nekos, inus, etc.

No... furries ARE all over this xD

 

[UberNoodle]

not nekos, inus, etc.

I googled the word "inus" and got a tonne of japanese porn and corgi dogs, wtf does that word mean?

Yeah sure. Inu means 'dog'. You Googled it and only got images of dogs. Even changing the 'i' in 'inus' to an 'a' gets only pages of medical diagrams and images. Where ever you searched, it certainly wasn't Google.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=inus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1360&bih=667

make sure you have safe search off and please don't call me a liar.

Didn't call you a liar. Still don't see the 'Japanese porn' in that link.
I think the fetish is mostly your own.

 

[UberNoodle]

Spoiler: snipped for rant

Oh science, when will you develop a cure for cancer instead of cat ears?

Right?

I don't even... yeah, I don't know. I try not to think about some of the things Japan does anymore. Seriously, what's with the animal people? Recently, I saw a girl on the bus with whiskers drawn on her face. Someone said something about "naruto" or whatever that is. I didn't understand.

And did you make an attempt to understand? And are all Japanese supposed to be the same, ie, there's no room for individuals? If you saw the same thing in your own culture you'd not indict the whole of it. What's whith the animal people? Well what's with anything? It's not your position to lay judgement on things you don't, but are quite capable of, understanding, with a little bit of openmindedness.

As for the post you replied to - only an idiot would even assert that a niche gadget that probably most Japanese haven't heard about, would in any way infringe on medical development, or any other essential industry. These 'ears' aren't government funded. They are a product looking for a market, and even so, that market is very tiny. Science is developing all kinds of things, and every breakthrough only strengthens the whole.

Shinto is animism and thus all things contain a spirit or 'soul'. It is not uncommon in Shinto myth to have athropmorphic animals, as well as people becoming animals. Also, Kami (gods) are not adverse to appearing as, or through, animals, such as the Kami, Inari's relationship with foxes. Additionally, via China, Japan has the Zodiac Animals which define personality via animal archetypes. But hey, in the quest to make Japan look like the weirdest country on earth, we can waive any understanding of cultural relativity in order to do so.

Fair enough. I'm not at all knowledgeable about Shinto, so I wasn't aware those concepts also applied to the major figures of the religion.

Now then, in what part of my post was I trying to paint Japan as the weirdest country on earth?

Was talking about this thread and every single other 'oh how weird is Japan?' thread on these forums. People should get off their high horses and consider how their own cultures and national characteristics and actions of their their fellows could be interpreted. Every culture is weird and strange, and even 'wrong', if viewed via a xenophobic mindset. This gadget was made for pure expression and fun. There's nothing at all wrong with that, especially when such attitudes exist in large amounts in every culture.

What a surprise, someone in Japan invented something incredibly weird, hi-tech, and pointless.

What a surprise. A utterly misinformed post on an English 'Japan thread'.
Read above. Take a step back and see just how 'weird and pointless' your own cultural output could easily be perceived to be. I had hoped the information age would have quelled ignorance.

I didn't say "the Japanese government" or "Japan" as a whole invented this. I said someone in Japan, because even though not EVERYONE in Japan invents weird things or even uses these weird things, if you see something eccentric and fucked up to any degree being invented, there's a damn good chance the person who made it is Japanese. You get some dumb shit here too, but a car with voice activated Facebook installed just doesn't reach the level of EKG cat ears, talking toilets, and a machine that attempts to simulate making out.

Well, you DID imply at least that 'japan as a whole' is responsible for these 'weird and fucked up' inventions by your generalisations alone. I love the disregard for objectivity. Regardless, who are you to judge what is 'weird' and 'fucked up'? You're run the risk of sounding like a pretty arrogant person.
I have lived in Japan for a decade, and I have seen very little of the fetishised and distorted Western view of the nation and culture. If you want to see 'weird and fucked up', look a bit more critically at your own culture. A voice activated Facebook car is not the extent of it. As for a machine to similate making out, need I remind you that the modern dildo, Real Doll and the Flesh Light are all American inventions? If you value intellect, avoid gross generalisations based entirely on the Availability Heuristic. 'Weird and fucked up' is purely subjective, and often the accusors fail to see how their own culture can be perceived. Which is what I said already.

 

[mikeysnakes]

Also not to burst anyone's bubble but the Japanese don't use romaji very often so if you really wanted to search for what a Japanese person would find you should be writing it in kanji or even hiragana, which only shows pictures of shibas and whatnot.

not nekos, inus, etc.

I googled the word "inus" and got a tonne of japanese porn and corgi dogs, wtf does that word mean?

Yeah sure. Inu means 'dog'. You Googled it and only got images of dogs. Even changing the 'i' in 'inus' to an 'a' gets only pages of medical diagrams and images. Where ever you searched, it certainly wasn't Google.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=inus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1360&bih=667

make sure you have safe search off and please don't call me a liar.

Didn't call you a liar. Still don't see the 'Japanese porn' in that link.
I think the fetish is mostly your own.

Also not to burst anyone's bubble but the Japanese don't use romaji very often so if you really wanted to search for what a Japanese person would find you should be writing it in kanji or even hiragana, which only shows pictures of shibas and whatnot.

 

[Ldude893]

Get back to me when you've got shoulder-cannons controllable by brainwaves.

 

[DoctorPhil]

You can always count on Japan to invent awesome technology and then using it for useless weird stuff.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Only in Japan can this thing be "Ok".

Seriously, you walk around with that in any other country and you will most likely be called crazy.

 

[UberNoodle]

You can always count on Japan to invent awesome technology and then using it for useless weird stuff.

Japan isn't doing anything. One company has made a toy which will have fairly limited sales and be discounted and forgotten in no time. What you CAN count on Japan to do is, not take itself too seriously, never forget that life is supposed to be fun, and not be so pretentious as to enforce their own cultural ideals onto other's.

 

[UberNoodle]

Only in Japan can this thing be "Ok".

Seriously, you walk around with that in any other country and you will most likely be called crazy.

That says a lot more about the judgemental attitudes and selfish pretentions of those 'other countries'. Thus, your statement compliments the Japanese for their ability to allow other poeple simply to 'be'. That's why I enjoy living there.

 

[DoctorPhil]

You can always count on Japan to invent awesome technology and then using it for useless weird stuff.

Japan isn't doing anything. One company has made a toy which will have fairly limited sales and be discounted and forgotten in no time. What you CAN count on Japan to do is, not take itself too seriously, never forget that life is supposed to be fun, and not be so pretentious as to enforce their own cultural ideals onto other's.

Oh I have nothing against them, they're a good bunch of people and I agree with you. It's just funny that the Japanese take awesome ground breaking technology and make nigh-useless weird shit with it. That's not to say they're not going to implement it for usefull things of course.