The Themis, named after the Greek Goddess of justice, is either a terrifying glimpse into the future of public discourse, or a crazy graduate design project that can be ignored. It's hoped that the latter option becomes reality.
The device, designed by Zinah Ahmad Issa of the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, and unveiled at the Global Graduate Show in Dubai, is in effect designed to moderate and control peoples speech.
The concept suggests it will utilise artificial intelligence to listen, similar to Google Home and Alexa, for particular words, or combinations of words, and will upon hearing these words either make a loud tone alerting that the relevant prohibited words have been spoken, or verbally speak an admonishment.
Intended to control hate speech, and currently programmed to detect racial slurs, bullying and vulgar assaults, it is beyond concept phase, and is now being tested in classrooms in Dubai, with interest reportedly expressed by several groups in other countries.
We say this high concept, high design device, may come to be the first generation of technology which pushes us ever deeper into the world of Big Brother ala 1984, as the idea of such a device is an anthesis to the idea of freedom of expression. We should learn to control our behaviours, not be frightened to express ourselves for fear of being chastised by technology.
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