Echo of Amazon may be able to read your emotions

Read: How emotions affect decision-making

These categories are largely static. But if Amazon had a range of products that constantly monitored us, depending on each change, the devices could contact us in a much more fluid way – not only by who we are, but also by who we are at a given moment. This is a boon for advertisers: most of the time, I would not be interested in buying an Enya album, but if you ask me immediately after an emotional SMS exchange with a in love, I would probably say yes. I may not often go to Panera, but if the idea is suggested when I'm hungry and I feel sick, I may do it.

Amazon is not the only technology company to harness technology that takes full advantage of these emotional windows. Google has a similar patent, for a method to increase the devices to detect negative emotions, and then automatically suggests tips. IBM has one that would help search engines to return web results based on the "current emotional state" of the user. Searching for "good podcasts", "football" or "events close to me", for example, would give different results depending on the mood of the user. , as determined via facial recognition on the webcam, an analysis of the person's heart rate or – and this is where "patents are not products", the disclaimer must be highlighted – the " Brain waves of the user ".

Spotify, meanwhile, already practices a type of dynamic emotional targeting. Starting in 2014, he began associating playlists with different moods and events, selling advertising space to association-based businesses. A reading list centered on Adèle can be an invaluable gift for emotional disorders. Products associated with sadness (ice cream, paper tissues) would therefore be recommended. A heavy hip-hop playlist might be associated with a "bulk parties" association, and Spotify would suggest the playlist for a company's advertising barbecue sauce, etc.

The purpose of profiling is to sell products. Each of us is made up of dozens of marketable categories. Dynamic emotional targeting hits the mark: we now have a set of stable categories (gender, age, residence) and change (mental and emotional states), and our devices are enthusiastic.