FAQ

Why Meditation?

TODO: No confounding signals from movement, vision, audition, etc. Nothing but cognition.

Doesn't this Already Exist?

TODO: Comment on lack of correlation between mental state and feedback received in existing technologies (e.g. Muse)

Possible Extensions

TODO

• Rely only on phone camera and computer vision (posture changes, eyelid fluttering, heart rate)
• Detect distraction automatically by determining if subtle audio queues have been consciously perceived
• Use CHMMs to map latest states of meditation, explore similarity between subjects

Reflections on Awareness

To understand our use of awareness, consider the following example:

• You are walking to the store. It is cool and sunny, and you're feeling pretty great.
• Lost in considering your grocery list, you accidentally bump into another pedestrian on the narrow sidewalk.
• "Moron," she grumbles, but you both continue on.
• "Wow," you think, "what a mean person!" Anger arises. You find yourself imagining the dressing-down you'd give this person if you were to see her again. You are sure this is a bad person with no friends.

This is pathological distraction. It may feel like this is an active process, that these thoughts are a product of your conscious efforts, that they are your thoughts. In reality, though, you have been swept away by mental sensations over which you have no control. You are distracted, to potentially disastrous effect.

Imagine instead that the following thought had arisen after the encounter: "Huh, I wonder what's on her mind?" Now, you find yourself imagining some personal tragedy that might have befallen her this morning, the trials and tribulations that yet await her, and the heroic (yet romantically tragic) role she is destined to play.

Now, imagine this instead: "Hey, that's a cool jacket! Where did she get it? I wonder, is it vintage? All the good stuff is vintage. She must know a lot about fashion. I wonder if she could teach me a few things, my wardrobe is so plain."

Before encountering this person, you obviously had no opinion of them. By the end of each mental tirade, however, you have concluded something about this person's character. These three conclusions are mutually exclusive, yet which one you reach depends only on the appearance of a single thought.

TODO: Application to identity and emotional states. "I am sad."