The Sensory Deception Read Online Free PDF Page B

monitor out of the way, she felt both a desire to sit in the chair and a fear of what could happen if she did. Selling this thing would take some innovative marketing.
    She ran her hands along the leather, but couldn’t feel anything except padding.
    Ringo returned with a bottle of dark red wine and refilled her glass. She was starting to really like this quiet, pleasant black man. She caught herself wondering if he experienced the same type of prejudice as she did: rarely negative or positive, but a constant reminder that she was different from the typical Silicon Valley technologist.
    Farley reached down to the side table and clicked the mouse. A familiar image appeared on the screen: the polar bear’s point of view as she slid across the ice just before entering the water. It looked blurry and unnaturally colorful. Farley offered her the heavy glasses. With the glasses on, the image seemed unrealistically vivid. Image boundaries jumped out; the edges of the ice and the color of the sky were vivid like black-light posters.
    Farley magnified the image and said, “Our video has ten times the resolution of standard high-definition TV. We use the extra pixels to embed more information for your optic nerves to process.” He zoomed in on the image until it became pixelated. “See how we mix in bright, fluorescent colors? We use similar tricks with sound. First, we use binaural audio, which is recorded with multiple microphones so you can decipher where a sound comes from—three-dimensional sound. We also mix the recording with certain frequencies amplified to control mood. We even mix in music. Classic themes from movies are sort of melted over the natural sound—we might have to pay royalties to John Williams. The music, soothing colors, and scents also prevent the irritation of sensory overload—which was a big problem in our first prototype.”
    He advanced the image to the point when the bear emerged with the seal in its mouth.
    Gloria pulled the glasses to the top of her head and said, “I can’t believe I ate a seal. And really enjoyed it.”
    “It’s not enough for us to just dump data into your brain. To excite
your
senses we have to monitor what works and what doesn’t. We use biometric feedback to drive the transducers in a way that optimizes your response.” He took the glasses from her head and inverted them under the light. “Here, near the hinges, you can see the sensors. They measure pupil dilation, which tells the system your level of excitement, fear, and attraction.Temperature monitors are embedded through the bridge. They measure blood flow in your nose to gauge your response to scents. The headphones have similar sensors to track your audio response, and of course the band we wrapped on your arm tracks your pulse, blood pressure, and perspiration.”
    He set the glasses on the table and said, “Lean over the chair.”
    She did. He clicked the mouse and, in a flash, the smell of roast beef surrounded her. It reminded her of horseradish again, and her mouth watered.
    Farley said, “If you hadn’t responded to roast beef, you’d have gotten fried chicken in the next instant—quickly enough that with everything else going on, you wouldn’t have noticed the change. Scents are difficult.”
    He sat on the arm of the chair. “The combination of sounds—including ultralow frequencies that you feel more than hear—with blasts of brightness and drafts of hot or cold air affect your comfort level. The combination puts the sensory-processing part of your brain into overdrive.” He held out his arms and concluded, “That’s how it works.”
    Gloria leaned against the wall. She still hadn’t shed the disappointment of all those sunrises with no ice in sight and the shock of awakening with rifles leveled at her. She looked around. Farley looked confident, as though he’d closed the sale.
    Ringo leaned toward her, cupped her elbow in his hand, and asked, “Do you need to sit down?”
    “No,