The Quest for Emotionally Intelligent Computing
by Anna Kaminsky
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability of an individual to understand, perceive and control their emotions. Emotional intelligence helps us understand ourselves and maintain relationships with others.
EI involves four basic steps – perceiving emotions, reasoning with emotions, understanding emotions and managing emotions. Consider a situation where you, upon meeting your friend, congratulate him about a promotion he received at work. In response, your friend just smiles. This emotional response might confuse you. To understand his emotions you need to differentiate whether it was a happy smile or a sarcastic one.
Most humans are able to perceive the difference between a happy smile and a sarcastic one, or between a true laugh and a forced laugh. Once the distinction is made, they should consider the emotion and decide on a proper response. Because perceived emotions can carry a variety of meanings, it is necessary to use contextual knowledge to filter out the unnecessary cues and signals that our brain is receiving. The forced laugh can be caused by person’s attitude toward you (typically, this is our first thought), or it might be a result of stress that the person is facing at home or at work. More…
“Is that normal?” Living in the 21st Century
by Jim Aldrich
I enjoy cooking. High on my list of favorite things to prepare is liver and onions or spaghetti. Both are dishes that are made better with the use of onion in the recipe.
This brings me to admitting that I tolerate the onion, even with its checkered reputation. Despite its awkward shape, irritating fumes, and its difficulty in peeling when I include it in a recipe I know what I am looking for. A unique flavor, a recognizable scent, and that certain spiciness. Personally, my only issue with the onion is its texture. For whatever the reason the texture of the onion and me are at odds.
Because of the texture, I pick the onion out of my food. Hoping no one will notice. In a childlike fashion I will put any resemblance of an onion off to the side of my plate. If you were hosting a dinner party the onion and I wouldn’t make for the best of guests.
