Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

Using Pavlovian Theory to classically condition inanimate objects

created by Clone

(idea) by Clone (4 wk) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 5 C!s Tue Sep 12 2000 at 0:44:53

Before reading this node, I recommend reading up on Classical Conditioning and Pavlov's Dog. Then watch me reduce it into a shallow hedge science reference like Schroedinger's Cat.

  • Subject: two pastel green towels, Egyptian cotton
  • Stimulus: Pinkerton, Weezer's critically underrated second album
  • Desired Response: The towels should autonomously dry my naked body, with no effort required on my behalf
  • Duration: 6 month test period

The idea for this experiment came in the shower one morning. I waste a tremendous amount of time every day drying myself. If I could train my towels to do this for me, my life would be more efficient.

It was clear I would need some stimulus more powerful than the ringing of a handbell to condition my towels, due to their lack of ears. I plumped for Pinkerton as it has enough energy to do the task and, more importantly, it's something I could put up with listening to every morning. If I played the album to my towels while drying myself daily, over a six month period, then my theory states that they would associate drying my body with the music. Once this response is ingrained, merely listening to the album would cause my towels to rise from the chair and dry my body, leaving me free to think about more important things.

Every morning for the last three months, I've dried myself with the same two towels while listening (or more importantly while they listen) to the same album. No sign of independent movement yet, but I'm hopeful it'll manifest within the next three months.

Unfortunately, I'm now unable to listen to one of my favourite albums without rubbing myself vigorously with a towel, which causes problems at parties.


(idea) by bitter_engineer (6.5 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Tue Sep 12 2000 at 0:51:33

Essentially, how a neural network gets trained.

printable version
chaos

How Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends wrecked my love life ♣ neural network But my computer really IS possessed
Falling in love with an inanimate object Googlie-eyed objects second album problem Weird experiences with classical self-conditioning
classical conditioning Pavlov's Dog split infinitive Egyptian Lover
Pinkerton How to use less air conditioning Weezer The ability of planarian worms to run a maze more successfully after being fed the remains of a successful worm
one way to kill an ostrich Does porn increase the self-perceived value of pussy? In case you were wondering about cramps towel
Skinner box I Am Legend Noam Chomsky reductionism
Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help


cooled by Fruan

Cool Staff Picks
Drink up!
Samurai
Codpiece
Olbers' Paradox
Some things Sensei has tried to teach me
Basics of personal mythology
The Healing Place
space
Arlington National Cemetery
High-pass filter
British Mandate in Palestine
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
bodhisattva
Cheap Homemade Facials
New Writeups
Ysardo
a brother to a sister(personal)
antigravpussy
your warm whispers(personal)
Clarke
Multiculturalism(idea)
aneurin
Earl of Landaff(person)
Heitah
Pseudocide(idea)
XWiz
Google Knol(lede)
Mythi
July 24, 2008(personal)
locke baron
The fall of Earth(fiction)
BookReader
Fear the Cold(dream)
Pavlovna
Kathleen MacInnes(person)
stainedglass
1(fiction)
kalen
Three "T"s(idea)
octillion369
Undead(idea)
archiewood
Ico(fiction)
Heisenberg
Why I love Everything2(log)
E2 is a by-product of the existence of The Everything Development Company