Automated shusher keeps conference loudmouths in line | Hacker News Reader

Automated shusher keeps conference loudmouths in line

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39 pointsgumby31 comments

I've had a related idea. I'd like it if political debates allowed the candidates to talk to each other directly more, and I want a timer above each candidate that shows how long they have been talking and an interruption counter. This way, if one politician frequently interrupts or talks more than their fair share it will become obvious to both them and the viewers.

Of course, this will probably never happen for several reasons. And political debates don't often change people's minds, but they are good theater -- actually, something like this would add the the theatrical nature, so maybe there's some slim chance it could happen.

I think it would be fun to have a debate using a chess clock. Last time I researched this there was some podcast were two people did this, but of course if two people already know and like each other the chess clock isn't necessary.

It'd be even cooler with several microphones and a parabolic speaker so that it can actually shush only the offenders, with most of the rest of the audience left blissfully unshushed.

I wonder if the public shaming of one person by the machine will encourage the others to be more reserved. And I wonder if that would be a good or bad thing.

nice thing about a parabolic speaker: just put it on a gimbal and yell at everyone who needs it. People who don't talk during a conference talk don't need discouraging.

In conference/zoom calls I'd like a slider to express my boredom-to-fascination level. And I'd like the average value prominently displayed, to discourage droning -- the scourge of meetings.

I'm talking about status/discussion/brainstorm meetings. Not presentations, altho maybe they could also use some kind of feedback mechanism.

It would be great if once a certain threshold of people were interested vs bored it would automatically kick out all the bored people into a different room.

In highschool I moved to a place where if you weren't talking about people magazine gossip or football no one was interested, I'd like to know who those people are in my remote org/club, etc.

My years on this blue ball have repeatedly taught me that technical solutions meant to "correct" human interpersonal problems don't usually work out how they're intended. They initially _work_, but humans rebel against them and the problem ends up compounded. Reminds me of traffic cameras.

On the Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm they have infrared light beams above the log flume that trigger a loud pre-recorded "Sit down!" message if you raise your hands up too high.

It was so much fun in Jr High to try and set them all off.

Makes me think of the digital speed limit signs that start to flash red and blue when you hit 10 mph over the limit. Like of course every 16 year old kid ever is trying to make them flash red and blue and also me at 32.

In the UK, we have signs that show a happy face when you're under the limit and an angry face when you're over. It's hard to resist the temptation to go a little over to make it frown.

In Ireland, they used to show the actual value in flashing red when speeding, but getting the "highest score" became a goal amongst the youth, so now they just say "TOO FAST" when more than 10km/h over the limit.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20734665

When I was at TomTom, they ran a contest for employees to come up with fun ways to gamify their internet-connected GPS Personal Navigation Devices.

Some wise guy came up with the brilliant idea of maintaining a real-time "Top 10 Speeders" leaderboard for every single road on the entire map. Kinda like Foursquare for speeding on local roads. No matter where you were driving in the world, you could instantly see the top ten speeds of other TomTom users who drove down that same stretch of road, and put the pedal to the metal to claim or defend your own spot on the leaderboard!

That one went over like a lead balloon with the legal department.

The only thing worse would be a chat app for texting while driving above the speed limit with other Leaderboard members along the same stretch of road.

They also didn't appreciate my proposal for TomTomagotchi: a simulated personality on your PND that relentlessly begs you to drive it all around town to various interesting places it wants to visit, to improve its mood and satisfy its cravings. (Kind of like having virtual kids!) I'm sure there's a revenue model having drive through Burger Kings and car washes pay for placements.

I especially like do that on my road bike!

If you do it enough, the attendant yells at you over the PA, as I recall.

Sadly, they got rid of the box car racers elsewhere :(

What's the problem with traffic cameras? They seem fairer and more effective than discretionary police enforcement.

The goal is safety, not effective enforcement. Cameras have increased accidents in many areas.

That seems an exceptional claim. Where I live folks obeyed the speed limit scrupulously where traffic cameras were in use. That has to reduce accidents, as expected?

Hes probably talking about cities shortening yellow lights after they install red light cameras to make more people into "offenders" and cause accidents as a side effect

https://ww2.motorists.org/blog/6-cities-that-were-caught-sho...

https://www.salon.com/2017/04/05/this-may-have-happened-to-y...

Ah. We only have speed cameras.

Any road has a "natural" speed that ~80% of drivers will drive at if not otherwise restricted. If you limit the speed below that, you have a lot of annoyed, frustrated drivers and that is a recipe for more road rage and accidents.

My objection to that is that the "natural" speed may not be taking into account unexpected conditions. For example, it may drive by a school or playground and the speed limit is there because of the danger of children running out. The "natural" speed isn't going to take that into account.

The correct solution here is road engineering so that the natural speed of the road is slower, rather than artificially slowing down traffic via a posted limit. This can be done by adding curves or thinning the road

https://nypost.com/2012/10/08/citys-gotcha-traffic-cameras-u...

Lots of stories of yellow light being shortened to create more tickets.

They are a revenue source for a city above all else.

Maybe cities should explicitly charge for using roads instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congestion_pricing

The traffic cameras were installed on intersections where they would generate the most revenue rather than on intersections that generate the most accidents or injuries.

Sort of like these: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/rac674/traffic_l...

It always seems the people with strange noises in the background, or audible phone alerts, or making comments to their pets, or chiming in when someone else is talking, are usually a boss.

But wouldn't that also shush the presenter?

Wouldn’t that be good? Sometimes I talk too much in my own meetings.

> Sometimes I talk too much in my own meetings.

That is a problem indeed, but this doesn't solve that. You can talk as much as you want as long as the volume is low enough.

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