There is an old belief that when you smile, your spirits get lifted, as do the spirits of those around you. When you look in a mirror, do you smile? This is not something that people may do consciously and until I saw this video below about the invention of a mirror that shows the image only when people smile, I couldn’t recall whether I usually smiled or not. With this mirror, I would know.
Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
I wonder if it would show a smiling vampire. Upon reflection, no.
I bet I can use it, without truly smiling.
Can it tell the difference between a smile and a grimace?
An evil smile? A predatory smile?
Heh.
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PS People’s rest faces are often, um… less than nice.
This is one of those devices that is more of a novelty than a functional item. A mirror that only works part of the time will quickly become tiresome. Plus it is guaranteed to be way more expensive than an ordinary mirror, maybe it is being marketed to rich airheads?
There is not a single thing I use a mirror for on a regular basis that requires me to be smiling. Having to see myself grinning back no matter what my mood would alternate between disturbing, annoying, and rage inducing.
Holms @#3,
Items such as these do start as novelties but often just because the inventor has a fun idea and wants to see if it can be made to work. It is usually later that the technology is expanded and becomes applied to more useful things.