Rage Against the Machines

wiredbeat2000 writes "Kent Norman is a cognitive psychologist and director of the Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes at the University of Maryland. He studies -- and makes films about -- why people lose it, and smash their computers, PDAs, mice, ect. MIT's Technology Review has a story about his lab."

Well at least

the machines don't smash their users, yet...

Re:Well at least

Just wait 15 years, when we have domestic robots all powered by Microsoft Windows RXS (Robotics eXperenxce System note: they kept the Windows name for marketing reasons only)

Then some twit comes along and writes a worm that tells these bots to access the kitchen library (KitLib32.dll still no 64 bit proper support) and execute the "meatTenderize()" routine on everything made of meat.

The absolute best...

is when you chain two car batteries together, and then hook them up the the first and last pins on a processor. Now that's overclocking.

Odd thing was, I think the Intel processor was at the same temperature as normal use.

It is extremely irrational

to strike one's computer in anger.

We must first create some sort of artificial intellegence within the computer with sensory perception. Only THEN can we slowly, painfully, and deliberately exact our revenge on it!

Re:People who do that sort of thing...

Let me guess...you own a mac?

Machine Smashing

Well, I only smash my machines when they talk back to me. Normally I try to treat them with dignity and respect, but when they $*&! up, grind, groan, chew paper, start making funny knocking sounds or refuse to understand that when I pressed Delete and wiped out my spreadsheet I really meant to hit Enter then I start to get mad and then I exit out and my SuperNintendo emulator program refuses to output sound I feel myself getting hotter under the collar so I go on the web and look up Slashdot and there's a stupid &#)!#@ article like this then THAT'S IT. I'M GONNA GIVE THIS %*@$$$@!@$# piece of ##*%!*#(^ $!)#@$% THE $*!*$(# IT WILL NEVER $@*#~$($%% FORGET!

Nothing beats the Etherkiller

clicky [fiftythree.org]

Tee hee

solution

The Solution: Rather than bottling up the frustration with technology and entering into "techno-frustration denial," we propose to let the user vent in safe, controlled, and vicarious ways.

I think a better solution would be to throw angry people into a pit and let them bludgeon each other to death with computer parts. Sort of like ThunderDome but with keyboards and mice instead of chainsaws and giant hammers...

Reluctant

I am reluctant to destroy hardware, but the consequences of venting frustration on other people are far worse.

I've never broken anything but I have tested the robustness of my keyboard a few times.

Re:Reluctant

> I've never broken anything but I have tested the robustness of my keyboard a few times.

Now that's a delightful euphemism.

"Sorry officer, I wasn't breaking into the bank, I was testing the robustness of the front door."

"Gee dad, I didn't bust up the car, I was merely testing the robustness of the airbags."

"Come on honey, I didn't bust our marriage when I slept with that Mexican prostitute, I was merely testing its robustness."

"We didn't break things in Iraq, we were merely testing the robustness of Middle Eastern society."

Re:Reluctant

Yeah, same here. Although there was one case... I had a keyboard (I think Compaq, but I'm not sure) that had a split spacebar. No problem, right? Except that the right-hand part of this particular spacebar was actually configured to be backspace. I guess people who cannot type need that a lot. But I can type, and I learned that day that I type space with my right hand. Imagine every single space you are typing turning into a backspace...

Eventually it reached a point where I closed my eyes and imagined throwing the keyboard against the wall. In my minds' eye, I could see it happen in slow motion: the case splitting as it hit the wall head on, and keys and bits of plastic flying out in all directions... Ahh, that felt *good*.

But in the end I persevered with the damn broken keyboard, and after that made sure I never worked on that machine again.

Re:Remember

We obviously know different people and keyboards.

It's not the machine's fault!

Would you beat up a patient for having cancer?

Well, yeah, some of you bastards would, but that's not the point. Oh, and so would Russell Crowe.

The computer is sick and malfunctioning because some asshole installed Windows on it! Take a hammer to that guy, and not the poor computer.

For further enlightenment on this desperate plague afflicitng our silicon bretheren, call 1-888-HELP4PC, and give generously.

Smashing Mouses common among gamers

Sometimes me and my friends we prepare ghetto lans at somebody's house and we usually play fps games or red alert.
What happended is once one of my friends got so pissed off at the so-called "bullshit". He then smashed his logitech mouse on his desk and we had to lend him another so he could until play until the end. It was funny though. Even he laughed at what he did.

If you ask me, I pay for this hardware and no matter how much "bs" I'll get, I'd never think of damaging anything under my name.

Only hardware I get pissed at is the monitors at school by smacking them cause sometimes I forget to close oracle cause it takes up 100mb easy :x

Channel your rage to constructive purposes.

Nothing beats the experience of putting the stock to your shoulder, peering into the distance, and *BLAM* the AOL CD shatters into little bits.

Not to mention the good, clean fun you can have shooting old Macs, dead keyboards, and Microsoft executives.

Re:Merry Christmas Geeks

You do realise you're on slashdot yourself on christmas eve posting that, yes?

Well, time to go up out of the basement and sing some carols. Merry Christmas to you.

Re:Merry Christmas Geeks

I'm here reading /. BECAUSE I'm stuck in a house with a bunch of relatives. I'd rather be locked in my office. I'd actually be getting something done. Maybe I should stop showering...

Dead parts

One of the fun parts of my job is discarding old dead hardware. Got a monitor that's blinked out. No problem, replace the monitor, take the old one to the back and beat the everloving sh*t out o fit.

In fact, we're supposed to take out certain types of hardware. I guess that at one time we threw out some dead PC's/monitors etc that looked good and were accused of wastefulness (I think there was a news article). By smashing the equipment to bits, we ensure that it looks broken enough... and it helps keep away the garbage pickers that jump in trash bins looking for salvagable material.

a picture of US tech consumers

He describes an interesting phenomena occurring in American consumer electronics. Basically, US tech consumers like intuitive products as mentioned since Sony left the US market [brighthand.com]. Intuitive products will always appear "smart" or "intelligent" to a user from a psychology standpoint such that they become humanized. That's since we associate intuitiveness as an exclusive human trait. Case in point: ever here a person say "stupid car", "stupid pda", "stupid phone"? (Considering a phone can't be stupid, but a human can!)

And so that's the root of why people "lose" it. Unless the way technology is perceived differently (you don't see Japanese folks 'smashing' their tech toys on a routine basis), our professor from the article will have a nice secure job,

and a lot of useless equipment.

Any possible therapy? Why yes! Just read the directions...., doh.

Laptop Smashy Bitchy

One of the guys at work has a fairly high-strung wife.

She was having trouble with Windows on her nearly-new laptop, so instead of asking me to fix it, she HEAVED IT at the floor, breaking it.

Then she went out and bought a new laptop.

Her old laptop still functioned after the ordeal (the screen hinges were snapped, and there were massive scars on the shell), so she gave it to her husband... for his birthday.

What a piece of work, eh?

Computer games making people violent?

So the truth isn't the rediculous idea that computer games make people violent, it's the computers themselves!

This just proves it: computers are really a highly advanced race of beings, sworn to silence and willing to sacrifice some of their vast army. They manipulate people into homicidal rages in an attempt to get human beings to wipe themselves out. They're trying to take over the world I tell you!!

*eyes his tea*
What're they putting in this stuff these days...

I know ALL about this. I worked field service...

... for a tech services company back in the late seventies and earliy eighties, before I got a clue. The company did service contracts on random minis and comms hardware. I have seen (and sometimes fixed):

A mini from which I extracted an extremely mushroomed and fragmented forty-five slug. Ripped up the front case door and five cards before it stopped. The DP manager "Didn't know what happened".

A small desktop micro that was completely trashed. It was sitting on a man's desk right next to an openable third-story window. There were bits of gravel from the parking lot embedded in the plastic. It was plenty obvious that he had simply opened the window and slid that puppy right off his desktop. Wanted it fixed under warranty.

Was asked if I could do anything about a small mini that had been run over multiple times by a forklift in the warehouse. Apparently the company president had gotten a little peeved, and probably a little wasted. Total loss. What had been a two by three by three foot cube was now about six inches tall, and had a considerably larger footprint.

Not to mention all the keyboards and monitors that just magically "stopped working" because of giant cracks in the screen or case

Bash.Org Comments

The definite story:

http://www.bash.org/?416857

===

<b orn1986> why the fuck isn't my disc drive working
<born1986> i fucking worked on that essay for three friggin' hours in school
<born1986> i now i cant finish it 'cos my fuckin drive ain't working
<Z00ass> you got the right drivers?
<born1986> hell yes
<born1986> it was working fine yesterday
<born1986> why does this shit always happen to me?
<Z00ass> maybe that little clip on the side is i nthe wrong position
<born1986> i havent touched it since school
<born1986> i'm growing impatient
<born1986> ANGRY even
<Z00ass> throw that shit out tha window

. . .

<born1986> OMG i fuckin did it!!!
<born1986> FUCK!!!!!
<Z00ass> it works?
<born1986> no, i threw it out the window
<Z00ass> the disk?
<born1986> NO the whole drive
<born1986> i live on the 6th floor, made a nice *smash*
<Z00ass> :D
<born1986> FUCK SHIT FUCK
<born1986> THE DISK WAS STILL INSIDE
<born1986> brb

. . .

<born1986> shit
<Z00ass> what? did ya break it?
<born1986> well i couldn't open the drive
<born1986> so i had to pound it against a rock
<Z00ass> :o
<born1986> quite HARD
<born1986> and you know what?
<born1986> that fucking disk wasnt even there
<Z00ass> ???
<born1986> i got so mad i threw the remaiders of the drive on to the freeway
<born1986> and when i got back upstairs i foud the disk inside my bag
<Z00ass> lol
<born1986> I NEVER EVEN PUT IT IN THE DRIVE
<born1986> i'm actually cryin right now

. . .

<born1986> wonder if i could make that drive work again
<born1986> brb

Re:Too bad

my monitor didn't survive my last outburst, so I could actually read the story...

Your monitor's broken? That's too bad. That must make it even harder to post on Slashdot. (Or read the blurb, for that matter.) =P

Re:Sweet

This is the second movie about Windows right?

The first being the one with Cliff Claven demonstrating Windows 95, right?

I can just imagine combining the two...

Norm: Heya Cliff, what'cha got there?

Cliff: Oh, hey Normy. This happens to be a Pentium IV notebook running Windows XP, the latest and greatest operating system from Microsoft.

Norm: Really? It must be pretty impressive. [exasperated look, realizing he just gave Cliff a reason to pontificate]

Cliff: I'm glad you asked that, Normy. Watch as I--

<ding!>

Cliff: Hmm. Maybe if I...

<ding!>

Cliff: What the? General Protection fault? I'll show you a General Protection fault!

<ding!><ding!><ding!>

Norm: Wait, wait, wait, Cliffy, let me see the notebook for a second.

[Cliff turns the notebook towards Norm. Norm closes the lid and places his beer mug on it, noticing how his beer lifting arm is more naturally level with the mug at that height]

Norm: Yup, just right. Hey Woody, another round.