Fan of robots, are ya? Think cyborgs are fun? Loving life, now that geeks rule? Yes, yes, yes, we all are. Except then you get to thinking, how much of the world’s tech brainpower’s working on — wait for it — the Dark Side?
Now, I love Stanford just as much as the next guy, but there’s a Stanford lab that’s got me a little uneasy. I like it, and I am afraid of it: Stanford’s Captology Lab. Here’s how it’s described:
What is Captology?
Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies. This includes the design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products (computers, mobile phones, websites, wireless technologies, mobile applications, video games, etc.) created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors. BJ Fogg derived the term captology in 1996 from an acronym: Computers As Persuasive Technologies = CAPT.
Ok, so what are you mofos trying to do? And can we borrow? Can we test your shit out?
Where Persuasion and Computers Intersect
The field of captology and persuasive technology is growing quickly. Every day more computing products, including websites and mobile apps, are designed to change what people think and do.
As we see it today, captology isn’t just persuasive web sites or video games to change behaviors. Captology is a way of thinking clearly about target behaviors and how to achieve those goals using technology. Captology is a method with related tools for solving problems. Our frameworks and theories are all about helping people understand and measure what matters.
Wanna know more? Well, they’ve written some handy, old-fashioned books for ya. So check ’em out, then join me as I dig a tunnel far beneath my home, stock it with food, water and poetry, and pray we die before robots start convincing us we’re theirs.
Persuasive Technology: Using Computers To Change What We Think And Do
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