'Last Moments Robot' Comforts You To Death

[n2doc]

Man. Man oh man oh man. This is a video of Dan Chen's 'Last Moments Robot', a robot designed to comfort a person as their final bars of life-force flow out of them. You know, because that's not the saddest thing I've ever heard. WARNING: crippling depression follows.

Once the patient lies down and the device is activated, LEDs display the words "Detecting end of life." At this point, the "doctor" exits the room, leaving the patient alone. Within moments, the LEDs read "End of life detected," and the robotic arm begins its back-and-forth caressing action...

"The device is meant to raise questions," he says. "The process of dying is probably the most vulnerable moment of a human life, where one seeks the assurance of human connection. In this installation, human presence is replaced with a robot, questioning the quality of intimacy without humanity."

"I am the Last Moment Robot. I am here to help you and guide you through your last moment on Earth. I am sorry that your family and friends can't be with you right now, but don't be afraid. I am here to comfort you. You are not alone, you are with me. Your family and friends love you very much, they will remember you after you are gone."

Holy shit, I need cheering up and I need it now. Anybody -- tell me something happy. "It's Friday." That helped, keep going. "Happy hour at 5." Go on, I'm listening. "Dying with nothing but a robot by your side." WOW -- you're a real @$$hole, you know that?

http://www.geekologie.com/2012/06/depressing-with-a-capital-d-last-moments.php

[Evasporque]

1. that is in the uncanny valley....nt

[HiPointDem]

2. hard to imagine the mentality of the person who thought that up.

[longship]

3. The sick fuck who invented this!

No heart! No compassion! No humanity!

A sick fuck!

No rec for you!

[Xyzse]

7. Actually I can't agree

The fact that they created this means they DO think about people that end up completely alone in their death bed.

Sure, it would be nice if a care provider would do this instead, but given that, that is not always available, trying to provide whatever comfort they can even at the last moments, even if it is automated shows that they actually think about the loneliness one feels when dying alone.

Yes, it is sad that it would come to that, but what if there really is no one else there? Obviously, the ones that created this thought about that.

What is sad, is that people die alone in their death beds without family and friends. They might be misguided in doing this as a robotic thing(when it is better to have care providers doing it), but that they did this means they think about what it means.

Also, as creepy and sad as people think these types of things are, you also have to realize that in Japan, they have Girlfriend/Wife games, where they have a virtual relationship with an AI. Basically, a glorified version of a tamagochi that acts as their significant other. THAT is even worse...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. It's like some sort of dystopic Issac Asimov story.

Sad, creepy, what have you.

The guy in the photo does look at peace with the situation though. Who knows, maybe the thing works.

[annabanana]

5. DU hardly ever makes me cry.

[Blue_Tires]

20. Yeah, reading that scripted message pretty much killed the rest of my day

[patrice]

6. My goodness, what a convenient way to obfuscate guilt! "RIP, __________ and a good time

was had by all!!"

"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$OYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!"

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. We're all born to die alone, so you'd better see to it that you enjoy every moment you have

while you're here. That's my philosophy, anyway.

[Ezlivin]

9. Robot? I don't want Romney comforting me at the end stage

N/T

[siligut]

13. Last Moments Robot is insulted by your insinuation that he is anything like Romney, lol.

I can understand the creation of this robot. People are comforted by stuffed animals, why not a robot that talks and pets your back? I believe that it shouldn't say a pat statement about friends and family though, it should just offer calm, comforting words.

[FSogol]

10. I dunno, a last moment handjob doesn't sound too bad.

[TrogL]

11. I'm a Jungian introvert. I'd rather deal with the robot

Once upon a time I was in a situation where a bad thing happened to a large group of people. We were told in no uncertain terms that everybody had to talk to a grief counselor. That may be fine for the extroverts but I'd rather deal with it myself.

If family (who are well aware of my foibles) are not available, the last thing I need is some nurse babbling shit, or worse a fundamentalist preacher trying to get a deathbed conversion out of me. I'd rather have the robot, maybe with an onboard rocket launcher to fend off the dogooders.

[B2G]

12. I'd opt for the affordable, low-tech option: a puppy n/t

[louis-t]

14. I hear they use it in the Netherlands. You know, when they euthanize people

against their will......

[geardaddy]

34. Does the robot double as a bong with a bowl full of "White Widow"?

I'd be ok with that.

[Liberal Veteran]

15. Don't be sad. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own.

Resistance is futile.

I think I'd prefer to have them turn off the safety mechanisms on the morphine drip than this.

[Capt. Obvious]

16. Some of the other quotes the robot says during your last moments:

"I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you."

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."

"Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over."

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you."

[Poll_Blind]

17. This was the robot I was born to smash with an axe. Because I'm human. nt

PB

[Poll_Blind]

18. BTW, for anyone who's seen Soylen Green: Remember the death of Edward G Robinson's char?

This is like the plastic vomit Darker Than You Thought Possible version of that.

PB

[Blue_Tires]

21. That solution was actually a million times more humane, by comparison...

[Poll_Blind]

22. While horrific in its own way, it was. nt

PB

[LiberalEsto]

19. I can hardly wait to see what the hospital charges for this "service"

It will undoubtedly cost an astronomical amount of money, and the person's survivors will inherit a huge debt.

With all the unemployed people in the world, can't we train some of us to go do this kind of thing and provide real human contact in people's last moments?

[B2G]

24. The person's survivors *deserve* huge debt

if they abandon them to a robot in their final moments.

[KamaAina]

23. I'd rather have the Death Cat

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2007/07/26/cat-death.html

Oscar makes his daily rounds, waiting patiently outside rooms if the doors are closed, wrote Dosa. Once inside, the grey-and-white cat jumps onto beds and appears to inspect patients by sniffing the air.

If Oscar leaves the room, the patient isn't likely to die that day, said Dosa.

But when the cat curls up on the bed, staff notice. They start phoning family members because the patient usually dies within four hours.

Usually indifferent and sometimes unfriendly to staff and visitors, Oscar purrs and nuzzles the patients during their final hours, Dosa said.

[Poll_Blind]

25. This thread is now officially creeping the shit out of me.

Worse, I can't entirely explain why.



PB

[Tommy_Carcetti]

29. Yes, but Death Cat at least is warm and cuddly.

And has a soul.

[Poll_Blind]

30. Nah, I hear ya. Death Cat has street cred in my book. I think it was the robot that...

...unsettled me, the implications of a society in which that would be used that got me heavily wobbling, and it just took Death Cat to tip the whole thing over like a pile of poorly balanced crockery.

PB

[revolution breeze]

26. Has humanity really deteriorated to this level?

n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. This is art

The public has been introduced to the machine as part an interactive art installation called Last Moment Hospital displayed at a RISD show earlier this year, as well as at Brown University Science Center.

Medical bracelets, health information forms, and other related medical products transform the space into a hospital-like environment where people go for a fake final rite of passage. A hospital bed sits in an empty room lit with a single fluorescent light; the Last Moment Robot is situated by the bedside.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57447109-76/last-moment-robot-end-of-life-detected/

I think people here are taking this a bit too seriously.

[Poll_Blind]

32. I say it's prophesy.

Maybe it's because I could so-easily believe something like that would exist, especially in a place like Japan, that makes me think so.

PB

[LiberalEsto]

28. If that comes to the U.S., they can call it Self-Checkout nt

[Arugula Latte]

33. Hah!

Good one!

[Nay]

37. A DUZY!!

[lunatica]

31. Give it time and the robots will look like your favorite actor

Here's a sample. Jude Law in Artificial Intelligence as the sex robot

[n2doc]

35. Of Gawd! Now the Freepers will be demanding a Sarah Palin Version n/t

[lunatica]

36. And I think they should get it

Imagine listening to that nails on a chalkboard voice while you're dying.

[gkhouston]

38. Wow, something even creepier than those Siri commercials. n/t

[CTyankee]

39. oh, geez...