1 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to stuff from 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the Science Lab. This is Alison madam Out, the science 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: editor at how stuff works dot com. And this is 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: Robert Lambs, science writer at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: And you know we um we communicate a lot at work, 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: uh via email? We do. Yeah, even though we're just, 8 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, a few yards away from each other. 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: We do. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes they have the habit of 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: um popping over your cube wall and annoying you, but 11 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: only from the right side. Well, you know, so much 12 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: as annoying me as just shocked me because I always 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: have my headphones in and so yes, you do so 14 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: jamming out in your cube writing. I have a hard 15 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: time figuring out how you jam out and right at 16 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: the same time, I don't know how I would write 17 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: if I didn't jam out. It's the only way to 18 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: do it. Listening to music with words doesn't that to 19 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: strack to you know, I can't listen used to when 20 00:00:58,080 --> 00:00:59,959 Speaker 1: I had a more brainless job and I was doing 21 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: and like pagination for a newspaper, that I could listen 22 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: to the whole podcasts and you know, where their discussions 23 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: and stuff and and you know, and and I can 24 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: do my job, but like here, as long as it's 25 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: not somebody giving me a lecture, you know. Yeah, most 26 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 1: of the lyrics to the things I listened to aren't 27 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: really that deep anyway. So sometimes we do communicate by email, 28 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: and uh, you you're you throw in an emoticon sometimes 29 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: in there. Yeah, I'll throw it in emoticon just too. 30 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: It's kind of like real writing, in my opinion, shouldn't 31 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: have a lot of exclamation points a streamer. Yeah, but 32 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: sometimes you're doing a short email, you know, it's like 33 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: an exclamation point can make all the difference in in 34 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: the enthusiasm level, you know. Uh. And likewise, if you're 35 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: not too sure about about how your you know, words 36 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: are going to be received by the recent recipient, uh, 37 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: you know, you throw on a little smiley face or 38 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: I don't really use said faces in in work emails, 39 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: but but sometimes there's a little like annoyed one, you know, 40 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: where you do like the you know, the two eyes 41 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: and then kind of like a sideways kind of um, 42 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: you know mouth. But I'm never really sure when to 43 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: throw it in a moticon, to be honest, have I 44 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: ever sent one used on an email to you. Yeah, 45 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: like you were saying earlier, you just you rarely emote anyway, 46 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: basically a robot. But you know it's like as a writer, 47 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: I feel like I can generally say exactly what I 48 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: want to say. The email is a tricky method of communication. Yeah, 49 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: sometimes you gotta shoot him off fast. You don't have 50 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: a lot of time. And it's the same with like text. 51 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: You know, you know you you just you know you. 52 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: You want to convey the message quickly and non starting 53 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: an argument, so you just be like, you know, you're 54 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,679 Speaker 1: just throwing a smiling So tell us a little about 55 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: the history of the emoticon. No, this is this is 56 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: actually pretty interesting. It is. Yeah, we can pinpoint the 57 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,679 Speaker 1: exact moment when emoticon sprang into existence, and that was 58 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: even four am on September nine, And that was thanks 59 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: to you, gentlemen, and Professor Scotty Falman Carnegie Mellon. And 60 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: he was suggesting their use. He was talking about the 61 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: limits of online humor and how you know to really 62 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: get across comments that are meant to be taken lately 63 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: and said, so he said, and I quote, I proposed 64 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: the following character sequence for joke markers. Um, you can't see, 65 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: so I will tell you. It's the the smiley face, 66 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: the colon dash parenthesy and read it sideways. So let 67 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: me read that to you. Aain. I proposed the following 68 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 1: character sequence for joke markers, and he gave an emoticon 69 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: and then he said, read it sideways. Yeah. Now he 70 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: included the knows I rarely include the notes. Yeah, yeah, 71 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: so I used a simplified version. But this was this 72 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: was early in the emoticon creation process, and it's really 73 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: really skyrocketed since then. As I think everybody knows, there's 74 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: just and there's a huge array of emoticons you can 75 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: whip out in uh in your daily email correspondences aside 76 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: from just smiley frownie brownie. I like how they all 77 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: get the e. Yeah, there's there's a vampire one where 78 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: blood suck your Yeah. I don't know when you would 79 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: use that. And there are different ones in Japan too, right, yeah, 80 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: I mean especially when you have a different well, actually 81 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: I saw a chart where it's like in the Japanese 82 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: emoticons have a tendency to they tend to want to 83 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: make there's more um horizontal instead of vertical. And and 84 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: then also when you get into other languages, you have 85 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: more characters and you can really create crazy emoticons that 86 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: like look like ogre faces and and cats and well 87 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: cats and the cat one you can actually do uh 88 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: with just it's like an equal sign and then ah, 89 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: what's the carrot? Yeah, like a carrot and then a 90 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: dot and then a carrot, then an equal sign. What 91 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: wila you have? Like a have you used that one before? 92 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: Are you pretty psyched to use it? Yeah? I don't 93 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 1: know when I'm gonna, you know, unless I just start, 94 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: like if after text my wife would be like, did 95 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: you feed the blank? And then I've thrown the mooticon 96 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: for the cat. But that's longer than typing out you know, 97 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: texting cat. Yeah, but we do that all the time. 98 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: It's like around here, Um, you know, when people ride 99 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,280 Speaker 1: how stuff works, at least in the office, they'll put 100 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: HSW because it's shorter on paper. But then you hear 101 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: people saying, yeah, we really need to think about hs 102 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: W and then you're like, that's not shorter. You didn't 103 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: save any syllables and saying hs DEB instead of how 104 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: stuff works. That's true. People should just be rational. Um. So, yeah, 105 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: like we were saying, emoticons are awfully handy when you 106 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: don't have the ability to convey your tone or your feeling. 107 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: And yeah, they help out when our voices can't do 108 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: the same. And uh and and I think one of 109 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: the even more important things, and what we're really going 110 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: to talk about in this podcast, um, is that they 111 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: give they provide you a face during faceless correspondence. You know, 112 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: you can't you can't see my facial expressions when I'm 113 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,559 Speaker 1: emailing you or texting you. Unfortunately, we don't have video 114 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: phones yet. Well, I guess we have had some like 115 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,119 Speaker 1: poorly conceived ones, but they're not widespread by any means. 116 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: They're out there, Yeah, they're out there, but I mean 117 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: it's not like you know, um to Android's dream of 118 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 1: electric sheep, you know, and they're all calling on the 119 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: video phones. Yeah, I mean, it's not quite dick Tracy yet. 120 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: But but but indeed, yeah, it's not a standard part 121 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: of our Most people do skype quite a bit though. Yeah. Yeah, 122 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: so emoticons are pretty handy, but they really don't compare 123 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: when it comes to the human face and what it 124 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 1: can convey. Um, I mean think about it. Now, what 125 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: do you I'm trying to look at you and I 126 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: can't really see your mouth, Robert, are you smiling or 127 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: frowning or scowling? What would you describe your facial expression 128 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: right now? Now, now there's a smile because you think 129 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: I'm being stupid. But but yeah, like the very basics, 130 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: the smiles, the frowns of scows. You can look at 131 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: somebody and you instantly have a good idea of what 132 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: they're there. You know, their whole attitude is um. Right. 133 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: So for example, a person who's trying to gain your 134 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: trust may smile um. Someone trying to scare you will 135 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: scowl um. And we use these faces, you know, not 136 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: just to win trust, but you know also influence and hey, 137 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: manipulate others. Yeah, I mean, a nice smile will get 138 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: you pretty far, as they say, you say, I don't 139 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: know if they say it, but everybody knows it. You know. 140 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you get pulled over by the police, 141 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: what are you gonna do. You're probably gonna put on 142 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: a smile or maybe you're going to frown. You're really sad, 143 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: you know, cry, Yeah, you could bust out the tears. Yeah, 144 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: emotional manipulation goes a long way, and it's you can 145 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: probably do a lot more. I mean, there's no problem 146 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: about it. You can do a lot more in person 147 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: than you can do with an emoticon. Right. So, according 148 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: to researcher Paul ekman Um, he found that humans share 149 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: at least seven primary facial expressions with identical meetings. Um. So, 150 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: first time we have happiness, and you know, while you're 151 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: listening to this, think about happiness. What are you doing? 152 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: Are you raising, you know, the corners of your lips? 153 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: Are you wrinkling your cheeks a little bit, narrowing your eyelids? 154 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: Are you producing those lovely crow's feet, those wrinkles in 155 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: the corners of your eyes? And then of course we 156 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: move on to sadness. What is that feature? I mean, 157 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: I think we all know it's sadness. Features snarrowed eyes, 158 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: eyebrows brought together, downturn, now pulling up a bunch of 159 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: the chin, all that good stuff. And there's fear, uh 160 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: and the yeah, wide eyes And apparently a fear is 161 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: very similar to surprise. Yes, I believe that. And it 162 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: also has a good flaring of the nostrils involved in fear, 163 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: which I never noticed before so much I noticed in cartoons, 164 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: not really in people. Anger. It's generally a lot of 165 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: eyebrow emotion. Yeah, And there's disgusted, um, you know, no scrunching, right, 166 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: you know, anytime you see somebody smelling something bad, raising 167 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: of the upper lip, downcast eyebrows, narrowed eyes, um, surprised 168 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: like we mentioned, and then contempt contempt of course, and 169 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: that's notable for raising one side of the mouth into 170 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: a sneer or a smirk. Yeah, and a lot of these, 171 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: I mean it's things that we pick up from other people, 172 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,599 Speaker 1: like in a very early stage we we we don't consciously, 173 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: well most of us, unless you like a what a 174 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: sociopath or something, you know, you're not consciously using all 175 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: of these facial expressions. They just come out. They it's 176 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: an expression of what you're feeling inside, right. So, and 177 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: then sometimes we have these things called micro expressions. Um. 178 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: And I think Chuck in Josh did a good podcast 179 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: on micro expressions and there's also an excellent article on 180 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: the side if you guys want to check it out. 181 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: And these are super interesting. These these are these just 182 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,839 Speaker 1: very fleeting expressions that you know occur across your face, uh, 183 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: that you really can't control. And there are a lot 184 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: of times they're like real tells of what you're feeling, 185 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: you know, like you're maybe you're faking that smile or 186 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: that frowned for the police officer. But if the police 187 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: officer was able to tell be able to read your 188 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: micro expressions, then he might be he would be able 189 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: to tell like, oh, well, you're lying about something, or 190 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: you're really nervous about something that's in the trunk. You know, 191 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: well maybe not. There's not a specific micro expression for oh, 192 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: my goodness, there's something there's a body in the trunk. 193 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: But you know what I mean. Yeah, I don't know 194 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: if you heard it. But back when the whole baseball 195 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: scandal was erupting with Rodriguez and McGuire and some of 196 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: those folks, there was a there's a guy who analyzed 197 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: Alex Rodriguez uh an interview in which he was asked 198 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: about whether he took some of these substances. And the 199 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: psychologist or or researcher involved in it analyzed Rodriguez's face 200 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: for micro expressions, and you know, he would stop it. Oh, 201 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: you know, point to that, look what he's doing there. Yeah, 202 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 1: there's something with the brow as I remember correctly, Um, 203 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, as is supposed to be like 204 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: a real telling micro expression of lying. Yeah. So there 205 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: are three thousand of these different expressions according to uh 206 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: Paul Ekman. Yeah, and he's really like the godfather of 207 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: micro express mr micro expression. And these things can be 208 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: pretty brief too, like they're only they may flash across 209 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: your face for a second, all right, I mean they 210 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: occur so fast that they're not even perceived by the 211 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: conscious mind, uh, by either the person expressing them or 212 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 1: the person observing them. And as few as ten percent 213 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 1: of the people, yeah, are even aware of seeing micro 214 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 1: expressions when tested. So it's it's really like below the 215 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: surface of conscious perception, you know. Yeah. So we have 216 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: all these handy expressions and micro expressions as the case, 217 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: maybe to convey how we're feeling about the world, But 218 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: what what about instances when when we can't when we 219 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: can't emote. Yeah, I mean that's again it comes back 220 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 1: to the emoticons that we throw out during emails. Most 221 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: of the time, that our emails are not really life 222 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: or death, you know. I means sometimes they are, but 223 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,079 Speaker 1: but for the most part, you know, it's critical deadline. Yeah, 224 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,959 Speaker 1: it's critical deadline. Or it's like you forgot to pick 225 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: something up at the grocery, that kind of thing. Um, 226 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: But there is a situation where it is very often 227 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: life and death or there's a huge potential for the 228 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: situation be life and death. And that is when you 229 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: get behind the wheel of an automobile. Right. So driving 230 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,839 Speaker 1: is a communal activity. I mean, we tend to think 231 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 1: of driving as an individual experience because a lot of 232 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: us are just hopping in the cars and you know, 233 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: driving off to work. Yeah, you're sealed in there with 234 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: your music or what have you, and you're listening to 235 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: his stuff from the Science Lab podcast and really just 236 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: you're into it. But you know, you have other drivers 237 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: on the road, of course, and you can't really easily 238 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: communicate with other folks, you know, next to you. You 239 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: can't say, hey, I just cut you off and I'm 240 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: really sorry about that, or you can't say, hey, you 241 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 1: just cut me off and what the heck was that? Yeah, 242 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,199 Speaker 1: there's um uh, there's a there's a guy by name 243 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:06,960 Speaker 1: of Dr Leon James, who we're talking about Mr Face earlier. 244 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,320 Speaker 1: This guy is also sometimes called Doctor Traffic and he 245 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: Dr Traffic, Jonathan Strickland wrote an article about road rage, 246 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: and it was just kind of funny when you consider 247 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: that Strickland doesn't drive, so he wrote the article on 248 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: road race. But I mean, I don't collide Adams or 249 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: anything our particles, you know, so and I wrote about 250 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: that is a good point. That is a good point. Yeah. Yeah, 251 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: we're great writers here, but we don't have to actually 252 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: do the things we write about. But but anyway, in 253 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: the in the article, um Dr James points out several 254 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: um aspects of driving that contribute to rate rising, frustration 255 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: and stress levels that often boil over into royal into 256 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: not roid rage, but road rage um. And these include immobility, constriction, 257 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: lack of controlled Um, we get very territorial. Uh, there's 258 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: denial and loss of objectivity that means we tend to 259 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: overlook our own faults and place the blame on others. Uh. Unpredictability. 260 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: Like a lot of this is when you're I think 261 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: in life in general, we create like a story around 262 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: ourselves where we're the center and everything else is just 263 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, gunk, you know, ecocentrics. Yeah, and you get 264 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:15,319 Speaker 1: in the car and it's the same deal. It's like 265 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: it's all about like, like, how did that that guy 266 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: was out to cut me off? Yeah, you cut me off? 267 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: Why is this light not cooperating with me? Come on bus? 268 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:24,679 Speaker 1: You know it's like that's that's that's how we get. 269 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: But then another interesting um, the fact that James points 270 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: out is ambiguity. Um, there's no culturally agreed upon way 271 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: to signal an apology to another driver. I mean, there's 272 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: the whole like thanks, you know, for letting me out 273 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:40,840 Speaker 1: while I was trying to take a you know, a 274 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: right or left. But but beyond that, it's easy to 275 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:47,319 Speaker 1: misinterpret someone's actions as a sign of aggression or insult. Okay, 276 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: let's pause for a second, because I think that there 277 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: are a couple of ways out there that people do 278 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: communicate and okay, let's hear him. Okay, So first we 279 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: have the wave like you were just talking about, and 280 00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: the wave is hey, thanks you just let me in. 281 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:01,960 Speaker 1: And I've apreciate that. I look for the wave after 282 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: I let somebody in, because you expect the way because 283 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: you're gonna be mad if they don't. Right, You're like, 284 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: do do you get do you get? Like? Like I 285 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: just like, yeah, buddy, I'm gonna be late and you 286 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,839 Speaker 1: didn't even wave to me. No, no, I would never 287 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: do that. And then you, of course there's a horn. 288 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: But as you're pointing out earlier when we're talking about 289 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: this podcast, um, you know a lot of polaces have 290 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: cracked down on using your horn. You can't blare it. 291 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: People don't really like all that noise pollution. Um, but yeah, 292 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: sure you can. You can use the horn. There's the 293 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: light tap. If say you're sitting at a light and 294 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: the person in front of you hasn't gone, you kind 295 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: of give the light tap. But but I have to 296 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: admit I think I've been in situations where the person 297 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: has honked back at me after I honked for them. Well, 298 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: it depends on the honked And I also i've done that, 299 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: like I've honked back at somebody. Why I don't know, 300 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: because when we're behind the wheel, we're different creatures, you know, 301 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: and we're like more prone to anger. And I'm there 302 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: was like one I forget what I was doing. Maybe 303 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: I was tweeting or something. I don't know, but it's 304 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: a legal Robbert, Well now it is. But this is 305 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: a different um. Back in the days when you could 306 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: months ago, well I know I was at it stopped, 307 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: you know, I mean, yeah, I was at a light 308 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: and suddenly it turned green and I didn't know that, 309 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: you know, did it turned. The dude behind me gave 310 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: me a little hog and this like like anger rose 311 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: and I'm like, what are you honking at me for? 312 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: And then I honked back and then I was like, wait, 313 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: the guy would totally correct to honk at me. Um, 314 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: I would like I would like to also put a 315 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: signal out there, UM, the hold up the hands to 316 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: acknowledge fault or blame. Sometimes I will do this if 317 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: I have you know, if I've done something like oh shoot, 318 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: I should not have done that, so you know, I 319 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: hold up my hands. Yeah. Well I used I used 320 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: to be more um yeah, expressive in my irritation to 321 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: other drivers, but I I finally have just settled on 322 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: just shaking my head from side to side and like disappointment. 323 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: And it works two ways. A it's very subtle, and 324 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: it allows me to to let some of the you know, 325 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: the anger out in a very calm manner. And also 326 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: other drivers aren't going to see it and attack me. 327 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: Because once I had that happened, I was I was 328 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: on the way to like a job interview, and we 329 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: were it was like raining, and we're like stuck in traffic, right, 330 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: and there's like some like annoying trucker behind me. Why 331 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: would you mess with the trucker. I wasn't messing with 332 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: the trucker. It was just kind of like like he 333 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: was like really writing my tail. Like no, it was 334 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: the heat, I know, because he got so irritated, and 335 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: I think I like throw my hands up or something, 336 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, but I mean I'm in 337 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: the car in front of him, right, and then he 338 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: like loses it, gets out of his vehicle and like 339 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: walks up beside my car and and like it it's 340 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 1: like like you know, just jetting wildly, like he wants 341 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: me to get out and like fight him in traffic 342 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: or something. But the weird thing was it's like I 343 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: I look up at him right and make eye contact 344 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: with him, and I imagine the look on my face 345 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: was kind of like what what's going on? There's like, 346 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 1: you know, I'm just kind of completely shocked. So he 347 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: like he makes eye contact with me, and it's like 348 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: he instantly like calms down and goes back to his car. 349 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 1: And it's this is not like a Jedi mind trick 350 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: thing with me. Either. It's like he made eye contact 351 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: with me, he saw my face, you know, and and 352 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:04,639 Speaker 1: then everything was human again. Okay, that's really interesting you 353 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: say that because I'm sorry, guys, we are talking a 354 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: little bit about road rage, but you are welcome to 355 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: share your road rage stories with us, and now I 356 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: want to share one of my own. Um, similar thing happened. 357 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:16,119 Speaker 1: I was driving home. I used to have a long 358 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: commute from from a different job, and there's a particular 359 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,239 Speaker 1: intersection and a gentleman just kind of you know, all 360 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: of a sudden crossed in front of me. It was 361 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: really tight, and um, I gave him a long loud horn. 362 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 1: I should not have done that. I do not suggest 363 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: that I'm not proud of myself for giving the long 364 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: loud horn, but I did. And he stopped the car, 365 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 1: and he got out of his Mercedes convertible and he 366 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: came toward me in my little eccount of box, and 367 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: I rolled up the window and unlocked the doors and 368 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: just stared straight ahead. There was no eye contact. I 369 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: would not look at him because I was afraid of 370 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: provoking him with eye contact. So that's interesting that you 371 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: said it, I wouldn't look at him, but yours kind 372 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: of abated based on that. Well, I have seen some 373 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: reports to some studies that to to talk about like 374 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: icon tach Um not doing any good after a certain 375 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 1: point if everybody is still angry, because it's because then 376 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: you know, it's like you have angry drivers, and then 377 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: if they're like only the only it's like that you 378 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: just compound, you compound what they're feeling, and you confirm 379 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 1: any kind of negative feelings if you like make finally 380 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: make eye contact with the other person and they're like 381 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: scowling at you, because then it's just like you know, 382 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: you're thinking, oh, these drivers are monsters. You know what's 383 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: with Atlanta's drivers? Then you make eye contact with them 384 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: and you're like, look, I was totally right. Look how 385 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 1: angry they are? Right right? Okay, So all of these 386 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:31,680 Speaker 1: road rage stories, what are you gonna do? What's the 387 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: driver to do? How are you going to emote? Clearly 388 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: to throw up the hands has multiple meanings. People aren't 389 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: always so psyched about the light tap on the horn, 390 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: and not everybody can drive a convertible, right, So there 391 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: have been some efforts to bridges communication gap among drivers. Um, 392 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: let's talk about one called the Vehicle Signaling System. Yeah. 393 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: This was like a patent I believe, Yeah, and I 394 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 1: was by some guys named Jerry E. Beasley and E. 395 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: Scott Geller. And this particular to allow drivers to display 396 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: a message like sorry to other drivers. According to the 397 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: patent quote, the messages associated with the use of the 398 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: communication system are selected for enhancement of safety and to 399 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: avert the negative responses associated with read rich cool sounds 400 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: like a good thing. Don't think it ever quite took off. 401 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: Between like two thousand one and two thousand five, Japanese 402 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: engineers working with Toyota took a shot at it. Along 403 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,479 Speaker 1: similar lines. They had this project called the pod and 404 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 1: and it's really I mean, it really sounds overly ambitious, 405 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: but it's but which is probably one of the reasons 406 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: you don't see these this technology out on the roads today. 407 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,639 Speaker 1: But they basically said, let's make a car where that 408 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: you have sensors that will read, um, the emotions of 409 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: the driver and convey them through the car like the 410 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: car would emote, which instantly brings to mind like images 411 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: of like Thomas the tank engine or something you know. 412 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: But and it's not completely unlike that. Uh. It would 413 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: feature like headlights that would fade for bright too dole 414 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:06,360 Speaker 1: to indicate anger or contentment. Eyebrows formed by lighted slits 415 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 1: along the car's bonnet that would be able to illuminate 416 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,719 Speaker 1: to form a frown. So you would have a vehicle 417 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: that that's frowning on you. Are you picturing? Am I 418 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: the only one picturing Herbie? Did Herbie have a face? 419 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: I don't know. Herbie kind of has a face. Her 420 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: being in a little VW Bug in the movies, I 421 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,479 Speaker 1: felt like you could emote. Maybe you just had more 422 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: of a connection with that film than I did. But 423 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: but yeah, it's basically the you know, the vehicle would 424 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: um would would emote for the the the driver. And 425 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: at the time I think they were they were saying 426 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: that the technology was still like ten or fifteen years 427 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: off or more, um, you know, before we would actually 428 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: be able to see this. Uh, And of course we 429 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: haven't seen it. So my complaint with that would be, 430 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: I would I like to selectively emote? Yeah, I don't 431 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: like to emote every feeling or thought or sweaty palm 432 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: that I'm feeling. Right well, yeah, And it's like if 433 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: you're driving, if you're angry and you're driving like you 434 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: don't want to again, you it seems unhealthy for everybody 435 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: on the road to know that you're an angry driver. 436 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:12,199 Speaker 1: And it seems like when you if you, if you 437 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: were to, you know, to roll out this technology, you know, 438 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,720 Speaker 1: say give it to everybody in Atlanta. I think you'd 439 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: have like two types of drivers. You'd have like angry 440 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,880 Speaker 1: drivers and then the drivers that are jamming out listening 441 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: to music. You know, so because I and I actually 442 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 1: I saw another study that pointed out that like we're 443 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:33,000 Speaker 1: kind of like reard at this point to drive angry 444 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: and have road rage. You know, we what do you 445 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: mean because we have all this stuff to entertain us 446 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: in the car or you know what we're it's like 447 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: all the reasons we're talking about before about being shut off. 448 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: But also like a lot of us grow up with 449 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: with parents that are that are like, you know, your 450 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 1: mom's driving the car, and she's probably talking about the traffic, 451 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,159 Speaker 1: you know, and complaining about the traffic and creating that 452 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: little story in which her and her driving experience are 453 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: the center of everything. Like a lot of people do. 454 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: The the whole chatter while they're driving. I mean, have 455 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: you ever been in a vehicle driving nobody else in 456 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: the vehicle with you and you're you're talking, like you're 457 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: commenting on the on the traffic a little bit. Okay, 458 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: well do you talk to yourself in the car? Are 459 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: you trying to get I didn't think about it, muntil 460 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: I I saw it mentioned in one of these these studies, 461 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: and they were like saying that people, that's one of 462 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: the signs so that the driver, most drivers seemed to 463 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: um to put out there. So they they chatter and 464 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: they're like they're like, oh, what are you doing, buddy? 465 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: You know you kind of talk to the other cars. 466 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: You know, what are you doing? Guy? You totally cut 467 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: me off there. It's like, oh, I guess you're not 468 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:34,120 Speaker 1: gonna make that like great, we all missed the lot, 469 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: you know, things like that, um which occasionally, like if 470 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: you've ever like done like me, I think it was 471 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: like a month ago my phone I pocket called my sister. Well, 472 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: if I guess, if you put your phone in your 473 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 1: back pockets, a butt call more like a hip call 474 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: for me, I guess. But but yeah, so I called 475 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: her and I was just driving, so she got to 476 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: listen to my my traffic chatter for like the length 477 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: of the message. You know, so so, and there isn't 478 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: a new gadget called the drive Motion and why don't 479 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: you take us to this one because you're a little 480 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: bit more familiar with Yeah, and this is It took 481 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: me a want to figure out how to pronounce the 482 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: name of the product, because it's drive Emotion, but with 483 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: one word. And instead of instead of doing the double ease, 484 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,400 Speaker 1: they share any So it's d R I V E 485 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: M O c I O n UM. And this you're 486 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,119 Speaker 1: talking about, you want to selectively emote when you're driving, 487 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: and you don't want certainly you don't want like a 488 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: supercomputer picking up on all your micro expressions and like 489 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: letting everybody know that you're pretending to be happy but 490 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: you're really frightened of the world. You know, that would 491 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: be that would suck. But now this is basically a 492 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,679 Speaker 1: device that like sticks on the back of your your 493 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,280 Speaker 1: back windshield, you know, um, and it lights up and 494 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,199 Speaker 1: it has like five different things that can do. It 495 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: can make a happy face, It can make a winky 496 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: face or I don't know what you'd call it a face, 497 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,680 Speaker 1: a smiley face, that's winking. Um, is that maybe if 498 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: you find the driver next to kind of cute I guess, yeah, 499 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 1: or that was kind of a cheeky move, Yeah, some 500 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: sort of traffic flirting or something. I don't know. And 501 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 1: then there's like the words back off, the words thanks, 502 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: and the word sorry. So you know, very limited in 503 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: what you can convey, but you have to wonder. It's 504 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: like maybe this is enough to sort of make some difference, 505 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: you know, to bring some humanity back into onto the roads. Right, 506 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: So as long as we have instances of road rage 507 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: and people you know, doing kind of terrible things to 508 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 1: each other in traffic, maybe these emoticons in the car 509 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: aren't such a bad thing. Yeah, maybe they should be standard. 510 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: Really yeah, I mean if you look at Dr Leon James, 511 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: he was saying that fifty six percent of the men 512 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,440 Speaker 1: surveyed said the experience rage on a daily basis vers 513 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: of the women. So either sex a lot of rage 514 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: going on, and and rage has been I mean, not 515 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: not necessarily rage, but like anger is one of the 516 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,720 Speaker 1: is frequently um um connected to traffic accidents and just 517 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,239 Speaker 1: general lack of stay down the roads. So right, so 518 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you, And what we would 519 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: love to hear on this is do you guys have 520 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: any sort of signs that you give to other drivers 521 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 1: and and we don't want to hear no, make them 522 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: all nice and g rated. Thank you very much. Um, 523 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,400 Speaker 1: you know do you have Yeah, because all the obscene 524 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: ones are pretty obvious. There's only so many variations that 525 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: you can not roll with on that. But how do 526 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: you convey other emotions? Yeah? And how do you feel 527 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: about emoticon Send us an email at science stuff at 528 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: has stuff works dot com or connected with us on 529 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: Facebook or stuff from the Science Lab or on Twitter 530 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: or lab stuff Yeah, Wolf actually, or at least I 531 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: will use emoticons on lap stuff and are in our 532 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: Facebook account, Allison never That's all they got. Thanks for listening. 533 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Is 534 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works, 535 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:01,880 Speaker 1: check at our blogs on the House of works dot 536 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: com homepage.