In sci-fi films, when anyone gives a computer emotions, it all goes horribly wrong. The computer becomes vain, doubtful and irrational and Armageddon by wayward technology is only narrowly avoided.

This is not surprising – science fiction has been informing us and becoming part of our culture for a while. It is increasingly really all around us: We Are Living in a Sci-Fi World.

Affective computing is an intriguing concept though:

Affective computing is a branch of the study and development of artificial intelligence that deals with the design of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, and process human emotions. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning computer sciences, psychology, and cognitive science.

Imagine educational software that modifies its teaching style depending on the user’s mood. Cars that communicate with other drivers, if its driver is angry, intoxicated or talking on the phone. Music players could adjust their playlist based on the listener frowning, smiling or similarly expressing themselves. Email clients could disable the send button, if the user is clearly upset and about to send out an email he or she may regret later.

A lot of different uses are conceivable here and this could contribute to much more personalized computing experiences.

Modern laptops and desktop computers are typically already equipped with microphones and cameras. Future operating systems may well feature a mood evaluation component and search engines may take information from that component as part of the search query. Similar scenarios are conceivable for other types of web-enabled applications.

Imagine logging in to Facebook some evening and finding a notification “John has been having a bad day. Check in with him to make sure he’s okay.” Intriguing.

And at least a little bit eerie.