BlaCk rIng

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I’m posting this in Dec 2023. I got to stay at my cousins’ condo in Mazatlan, which is very kind of them, so here’s a picture from here.

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BlaCk rIng by Brendan ZaChary AllIson

So… you want to sell women this jewelry that publicly broadcasts their mood? You sure they want that?

Look at mood rings from the 1970s. This one I’m wearing could retail for under $100 today, including the ring and earbud electrodes. Less than 40 bucks in 1970s money and those mood rings sold well.

Right, because people knew they didn’t work. Yours does. Look, it just turned red as soon as I started criticizing your idea. Awfully revealing. Now it’s black. I’m sorry. It’s technically impressive and might have other applications, but it wouldn’t work as a consumer product.

Because it actually does work?

Right.

OK. Wait. What if it didn’t?

What if your working mood ring didn’t work?

Right. We sell the exact same thing, with electrodes, but the color is random. Now everyone knows it’s a bullshit BCI. It’s just a stupid toy, a conversation piece, something people can talk about and mock but never take seriously.

So the secret to commercializing BCIs for the general population is bullshit?

Well, I-

No need to answer, your ring just turned green. And so did the ring on every other VC in the room.

Author Commentary

I first thought of this as a product to monetize. I did some early market research that provided the feedback in the story and decided to present the idea in a story instead.

Realism

This could have been done in the 1970s, when mood rings really were successfully commercialized. Back then, they would have been a lot more expensive and impractical. But it was possible to make a ring that really did respond to your mental state based on your EEG.

Hope

I’m a little surprised BCI mood rings haven’t been made already. Should we hope for such products?

Edit History

I wrote this in 2002. The aforementioned market research entailed asking people about this idea at the 2002 BCI Meeting, including Profs. Melody Moore and Jane Huggins.

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