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Comment by MattHeard | Hacker News Reader

How would one construct a smell mirror?

One biologist has attempted to create a test with dogs. The basic hypothesis is that dogs should be able to recognize their own urine if they can detect "self" through smell. The results so far have been inconclusive[1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test#Animals_with_a_non-...

How about a "sound mirror"? Bats and dolphin in a way "view" sounds with their echolocation..

A sound mirror is just a wall.

To be fair, a visual mirror is just a special type of wall.

It has to be a very very flat and even wall, otherwise the echo image will be distorted or "blurry". Such do not really appear in nature. Just like the only natural equivalent to a visual mirror is a very still pond, viewed under an angle.

For echolocation to work, you'd basically need some sort of mold of the animal itself that moved in real-time to match it.

I'd look at the technology behind "Smell O Rama": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_scent_technology

It's a gimmick they used in the early 50's, adding associated smells to movies. I'm not sure about on-the-fly smell creation though.

I think the hardest part of creating a mirror for these other kinds of senses would be the fact that you need to be able to modify the 'reflected medium' in such a way that you can:

1: Determine if the subject is capable of detecting the modification 2: Determine if the subject has detected the modification 3: Have the subject acknowledge that they are the subject of the modification by attempting to correct it.

I guess hearing a crow clear his throat would be an indication of sentience.

Human centipede basically.

Stick your nose in your armpit?

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