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Comment by cmiller1 | Hacker News Reader

It's tangential to this but the integration of biofeedback with headphones reminded me something I've dreamed of having off and on for years. I would really love a music player that uses some kind of biological sensing data to help inform what it plays. When I'm exercising I'd love for my phone to be able to figure out my intensity through some metrics (heart rate, respiration, skin temperature, accelerometers) and select faster and/or more intense music as well as adjust the volume based on that information.

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Same, as well as serving me better ads that I will be more susceptible to in a more euphoric state of mind.

It's always a good exercise to keep in mind how fantastic new tech will be forced into shitty capitalism-driven forms when it actually hits.

Let's just build it in open source and out of walled gardens then.

In reply to the iamnotdang comment below, which I don't seem to be able to comment on directly: There is sarcasm here, which is perhaps what you're referring to. But I'd argue here it's a form of satire which is also (slightly) informative. The reader doesn't have to work very hard to realise the argument being made that this is another greasing of the slippery slope we're on to Black Mirror style immersive surveillance capitalism.

Perhaps we should make that point explicitly: It's a concern that US based mega corps will have access to data about mental states at population scale, and that would provide significant power to them for both good and potential ill.

It's a 1 hour old troll account that has already been banned.

They'll charge more to serve you ads when you're in a more receptive state of mind, but the ads you're served won't necessarily be better.

"New Google phone service whispers targeted ads directly into users' ears"

https://www.theonion.com/new-google-phone-service-whispers-t...

I was feeling a bit down today when I heard a whisper: BetterHelp telehealth therapy. Use offer code GOOG10 for 10% off your first month

At this point I have become intransigently opposed to using betterhelp due to the incessant ad spam I've been subjected to over the last few years.

Hmm, you don’t sound like you saved a bunch of money on your new car insurance, are you sure you don’t need betterhelp?

Congratulations, you have a new billion dollar startup idea to sell to Google for it to kill a few years later.

Last night while I was choosing something to fall asleep to, Spotify suggested Nirvana’s Nevermind.

Just getting as advanced as “this human normally puts chilled music on at this time of day, which is also the time many people go to sleep in this time zone” would be a start.

Creative. Spotify usually just plays ads to keep me from falling asleep.

Search for "daylist" on Spotify and it'll come up with exactly that

I am not sure you need any technology here. You pretty much always have the same cycling and running cadence; so pick a song that's 180bpm (not sure if that's right for running), and there you go. How much effort you exert depends on how long your strides are or what gear you're in, but if you're doing a big climb or something the beat of the music can remind you to keep your cadence at the optimal rate. (That said, do cyclists wear headphones? I don't. It's against the law here, and in general the sound-based situational awareness seems like something you don't want to give up. Make your computer beep at you if your cadence is out of range.)

> ".That said, do cyclists wear headphones? I don't. It's against the law here, and in general the sound-based situational awareness seems like something you don't want to give up."

That's where bone conduction headphones such as Aeropex by Aftershokz come in: https://youtu.be/IACve6PlC8o?t=271 (That's a video link because it's to a guy using them on a bike, and saying they don't block situational awareness).

I'm certainly not lifting weights at 180hz

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/20/spotify-s... mmm and there seem to be a couple (mostly dead) apps that did it, too.

This would be useful though, as I listen to high BPM when running, then run to the beat, but if my heartrate starts approaching some max then it would be nice for it to pick songs that have a progressively lower bpm to get me to adjust my stride while running.

Curious, I go the other way - I listen to pump-up music when I want to get pumped up, not after. Similarly, I put on sleepy music to put me to sleep. Though if my devices could heart my intentions, that would be magical.

I’ve noticed this kind of trend with technology. Algorithms don’t intuit where you want to go, only where you are. Leads to a feedback loop where you just become more stuck in your current patterns.

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