Wheres the fun if dogs could talk?
Dogs will be talking in Tokyo next month. A Japanese company is launching Bowlingual Voice, a revamped gadget that claims to translate woofs into words. The device, which includes a collar microphone (for the dog) and hand-held descrambler (for the owner), uses proprietary technology to detect six canine moods: happy, sad, needy, frustrated, assertive and on guard. Here’s how it works: The dog barks. The bark is digitized. The bark is analyzed. The bark is translated. The bark is converted into words. For now, dogs will have a limited vocabulary consisting of preprogrammed phrases such as “Leave me alone” and “Play with me.” But it’s not hard to imagine a future in which technology gradually transforms household pets into voluble companions. This raises an important question: Has the world gone insane? First of all, most dog owners can already decipher the moods and desires of their furry cohorts. When visiting friends, I’m often amazed by the precise two-way communication on display.
