scientist at the mayo clinic have come up with a new lie detector that they boast can detect when a person is lying simply by a thermal reading around the subjects eyes. the cnn article goes on to talk about possible uses in airports and borders to detect criminal or terrorist activity, but what i'm interested in is what would happen if they made a portable model that individuals could carry around with them to see if their husband/wife/boss/friend was telling them the truth. would you want to own one of these or do you think that the simple white lies that we tell everyday are inconsequential?

- no, those pants don't make you look fat...
- yes sir, i don't mind staying late to finish this work...
- hi, it's nice to meet you...
- oh, your cooking is great...
- i love you...

I would love to have one. But I don't think I could handle anyone else that has any impact in my life to have one. All those little white lies would destroy me.

so you would have one, but no one else could? that doesn't seem fair...

I would like one, but I don't think it would be a good idea. Finding out all the lies people are telling me would probably end up in me killing myself.

I swear, the higher-ups in this country are coming up with the most inane, intrusive shit possible and the public is applauding it because they're slapping the 'anti-terrorism' sticker on everything.

Thermal lie detector. Ok, i'll buy it, but they think this will help at airports? Christ, i don't want to miss my plane because i'm hauled into custody by security personnel on account 'the machine' didn't believe me when i told it the steel toes in my boots are not explosives.

But if they really could perfect a foolproof lie detector, that'd trim down that big messy court system, wouldn't it?

....not even if it was offered to me for free. I am not even convinced it works, but if proven so, I would still prefer my intuition over any man-made invention.

I don't understand lying . . . I think it's sad and it confuses me to no end. If people are lying to me, chances are that I'm not going to want to know. Lying to someone is completely de-evolutionising them. I don't really like thinking about this, so my answer is: no. I would not like to have a spiffy machiney thingy.

<<insert blasphamy here>>. what kinda world are we building ourselves?

I swear, the higher-ups in this country are coming up with the most inane, intrusive shit possible and the public is applauding it because they're slapping the 'anti-terrorism' sticker on everything.

totally agreeing with this. we have the mentality that if you aren't guilty of anything, then you should be fine with surrendering your privacies, your own secrets and lives. catch 22. if you're guilty you're life is invaded and you will be caught. if you're innocent, you're life is invaded and you have no privacy. when will we decide that our lives are not to tampered with unless we give our explicit consent? we have countries that you must carry identification with you at all times and if you do not, you are making a federal offence. you are guilty until proven otherwise. a free world does not exist anymore. the question is when did it disappear?