We plan to upgrade the program so that it can analyze the body language of applicants during interviews and use this data to help decide whether they should be hired.

Another job gone to the robots, HR. I'm working on a machine learning to do career planning for you.

I can see the program going haywire when the body language (of a sociopath, for instance) doesn't match his or her test scores.

Well that's just bloody pathetic that people need a program written by people to decide which people people should hire.

instead of useless features like that, why not invent a robot that can do cleanup after a nuclear disaster? Or a robot that can plow through rubble quickly and safely after an earthquake and tsunami to rescue people?

This is just plain stupid.

instead of useless features like that, why not invent a robot that can do cleanup after a nuclear disaster? Or a robot that can plow through rubble quickly and safely after an earthquake and tsunami to rescue people?

That's like asking why McDonalds doesn't sell steaks. It's equating two unrelated things - a false equivalency.

Sounds more like a lie detector test than a screener.

Nobutatsu Nakamura, a member of major electronics maker NEC,

That's like asking why McDonalds doesn't sell steaks. It's equating two unrelated things - a false equivalency.

electronics makers make robots, you know. instead of using R&D resources for something useless they can create something useful. I get that we're talking about an operating system vs an electrical appliance. What I'm saying is that the R&D that could have gone into making something useful went into something useless.

Useless to you maybe, but I assume they figure they can find customers for it, so they obviously disagree. Do you know their business better than they do?

And as for spending R&D to design something you think is a good idea, they are a private company, free to dedicate their resources into whatever they think will be profitable. Your complaint may be valid if we were talking about the government, who should be using their resources to help their people and country. But this is a private company whose goal is to make money.

Again, you've equated unrelated things.

Useless to you maybe, but I assume they figure they can find customers for it, so they obviously disagree.

So can a weapons maker. Doesn't mean what they are making is good.

Do you know their business better than they do?

Yes I do. And so do all the other commentators who think it's useless.

And as for spending R&D to design something you think is a good idea, they are a private company, free to dedicate their resources into whatever they think will be profitable

Sure they are. And I am free to point out that it could have been used to make something useful.

The only thing NEC won't do is actually hire candidates with educations in electronics, engineering, or computer science, instead of French literature, agriculture, and social science. Like all big Japanese companies, NEC hires the most helpless of new grads it can find, because these will be the most dependent (which somehow equates to "loyal" in Japan) on the company. And being so heavily dependent on their company, they won't quit due to the long hours, low pay, and short vacations.

If NEC wanted top people to work for their company, all they would have to do is offer competitive pay, and hire experienced people are capable of independent thought and action. But those last two are traits which no Japanese company can tolerate. And that is why the best and the brightest go to work for American tech companies.

So can a weapons maker. Doesn't mean what they are making is good.

I've never claimed otherwise. But so can a diaper maker, doesn't mean what they are making is bad.

Yes I do.

Heh, yeah, right. Then why aren't you running a company of that size?

Sure they are. And I am free to point out that it could have been used to make something useful.

Same as I'm free to point out how it's a false equivalency.

I still think a robot would have been better

You have no understanding of what a society is all about. Pathetic.

I think they will be hiring robots and there will be no diversity in the workplace everyone the same! Wait it's already like that Lol

This is just plain stupid.

Which is perhaps why they are doing it. Easier to do stupid than do difficult. Who's going to say whether the outcome was good or not? Building robots for something useful as you suggest is a different matter. It's all too easy to know whether that works or not.

You have no understanding of what a society is all about. Pathetic.

Sorry, to whom is this comment directed?

The only thing NEC won't do is actually hire candidates with educations in electronics, engineering, or computer science, instead of French literature, agriculture, and social science. Like all big Japanese companies, NEC hires the most helpless of new grads it can find

While I've never worked at NEC, I'll assume their hiring policy is not so different from other electronic and tech companies in Japan. While the types you describe might be hired in the business divisions, the tech divisions absolutely hire candidates with engineering and scientific qualifications.

Which is perhaps why they are doing it. Easier to do stupid than do difficult

Very true and I concur.

Who's going to say whether the outcome was good or not? Building robots for something useful as you suggest is a different matter. It's all too easy to know whether that works or not.

Fair enough. You make a good point, which more than I can say for others here.