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Dr. Whippy Ice Cream Machine Makes Sure You're Happy
Dr. Whippy, an art prototype developed by Demitrios Kargotis, does what no soft-serve ice cream machine ever did outside of fiction: it scans you to make sure you'll be happy with your serving.

(Dr. Whippy by Demitrios Kargotis)
According to the creator of this dream machine:
"Employing voice stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured and the counteractive quantity of ice cream is dispensed: The more unhappy you are, the more ice cream you need."
Science fiction readers have been waiting for this device since 1979. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams tells us about the Nutri-Matic:
He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic examination of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well.
(Read more about Douglas Adam's Nutri-Matic)
New! See this Dr. Whippy video. Via WMMNA; special thanks to Erik Nodacker for both halves of this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/12/2007)
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