Downloading smells

[Admin_2]

Technology has taken our senses to a whole new level. Just look at the difference between the average 18 year old and the average 58 year old out there today. What's considered normal technology to an 18 year old nowadays is way beyond what *most* people born 40 years later can begin to understand.

Usually people don't know this, but our most memorable sensations come from our olfactory senses (our smelling ability/recognition). Just remember that smell that takes you back to your grandmother's/mother's kitchen way back when. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think a smell is endless when it comes to emotions.

The tech world has tried to introduce this sort of thing in the past, but I think the money just wasn't there since the technology is so expensive.

I know it's probably way out in the future....but how far, and how successful do you think something like this would be?

[PiAnt]

I don't.

Hope it helps.

Though, as you asked, one of my earliest memories is a smell. Breakfast oats at a boarding school I was traumatised over some considerable years ago. Funnily enough again, my sister was here recently and I recounted this smell to her, which (as she was there also), admitted to recalling it, though her strongest memory of the same experience was of taste rather than smell.

So, I'd have to agree that memory of smells can be every bit as potent as visual or aural memories, though I'd disagree that technology would be in a position to reproduce either of them, certainly in my lifetime, and I plan on living forever.

(Or until I die, whichever comes first, you bastard).

[Admin_2]

I'll bet you the first smell copier price or a beer on this that it's done within 15 years.

[koolbreez]

Scratch, and sniff, technology has been around for along time, and is still used quite a bit. It's cheap too. The biggest obstacle is chemically reproducing the organic fragrances. That has always been a problem, even in the perfume industry. Organics are expensive to produce so everything is done to chemically copy them, and quite a few times miss the mark.

Just the fact that scratch, and sniff, is still being used demonstrates how successful that technology is, or are you refering to something like the deoderizers that emit a smell when you plug it in(heat based release), or the ones that spray a metered amount of fragrance into the room at timed intervals, or the ones now that do it based on a motion sensor? Is this the type of thing you are refering to, with just cross adapting the technology into another avenue of use?

[Admin_2]

Scratch, and sniff, technology has been around for along time, and is still used quite a bit. It's cheap too. The biggest obstacle is chemically reproducing the organic fragrances. That has always been a problem, even in the perfume industry. Organics are expensive to produce so everything is done to chemically copy them, and quite a few times miss the mark.

Just the fact that scratch, and sniff, is still being used demonstrates how successful that technology is, or are you refering to something like the deoderizers that emit a smell when you plug it in(heat based release), or the ones that spray a metered amount of fragrance into the room at timed intervals, or the ones now that do it based on a motion sensor? Is this the type of thing you are refering to, with just cross adapting the technology into another avenue of use?

I'm referring to a scenario like this:

One day you bake a cake and want to share it on FaceBook 2.0 so you take a picture and put the cake next to your smell-o-nator, upload and send. Your friend can click on both the picture and the smell to download, and their own smell-o-nator uses the uploaded smell info to recreate the smell at your own home.

You reply, "looks and smells great! wish I was there."

It might sound far-fetched, but many of the smells you smell today are created in labs. I remember reading Fast Food Nation and the guy describes walking into a McDonalds laboratory that smelled like french fries. In fact, I can't think of one smell that technology couldn't create as long as a human was there to oversee it all.

I believe one day a human will be taken out of that equation, and the cake smelling scenario I posted above will become a reality through years of refining.

My first "cake smell" that I send to a friend will be one of my famous Charlie Brown Farts (CBFs).

[Admin_2]

Googling around a bit it looks like, you guessed it, the Japanese are on the job with smell copier machines already produced.

[English_Bob]

Supermarkets used chemically enhanced smells to induce people to buy.

And I once went to a waxworks museum that had tried to recreate the smell of horses in a stable to make the place more realistic (it was a tableau of people shoeing horses in medieval days).

It was quite close - but it still had a 'chemical' feel to it.

[Geee]

Scratch on your screen HERE and you will smell Russian Leather

Edited February 4, 2011 by Geee

[koolbreez]

I'm referring to a scenario like this:

One day you bake a cake and want to share it on FaceBook 2.0 so you take a picture and put the cake next to your smell-o-nator, upload and send. Your friend can click on both the picture and the smell to download, and their own smell-o-nator uses the uploaded smell info to recreate the smell at your own home.

You reply, "looks and smells great! wish I was there."

It might sound far-fetched, but many of the smells you smell today are created in labs. I remember reading Fast Food Nation and the guy describes walking into a McDonalds laboratory that smelled like french fries. In fact, I can't think of one smell that technology couldn't create as long as a human was there to oversee it all.

I believe one day a human will be taken out of that equation, and the cake smelling scenario I posted above will become a reality through years of refining.

My first "cake smell" that I send to a friend will be one of my famous Charlie Brown Farts (CBFs).

This scenario isn't that far fetched. All the technology is there to do it, it would simply take readapting the deodorizers to be triggered to mix the particular fragrance from a set of base aromas, and release it, triggered by a software signal built into the hardware devise. You would have your desposibles (the base frangances) to replace occasionally, and then the software to get the right mix for the aroma you are recreating.

It really isn't that far fetched, and could be very do-able with the technology that is now availible, at a pretty cheap cost. If you wanted to have the expensive model, you could load it with organic frangrances, instead of the chemical replacements. All the technology is there to do it, you'd just have to redesign the spray unit, and write the software to trigger it.

The hacking community would go crazy with rewriting the aroma mix codes.........hahahahaha. You'd activate a virus that would make your whole house smell like a pile of........well, I think you get the idea.

[admin]

I think the statement about our olfactory senses being one of the strongest is something that someone who specializes in olfactory sciences would say. Human beings tend to be very visual and auditory. Saying olfactory is one of the strongest is like saying, it's in the top 5 senses :-) Our olfactory senses are one of our least developed senses.

If you're looking to conjure up a psychological reaction a visual or auditory stimuli would be much stronger than an olfactory one though the olfactory one would be less obvious and leave people having the response and not knowing why.

[Admin_2]

If you're looking to conjure up a psychological reaction a visual or auditory stimuli would be much stronger than an olfactory one though the olfactory one would be less obvious and leave people having the response and not knowing why.

I think you're referring to it on the basic level of memory. For example, I see a picture of a glass of red wine and I remember that it is a glass of red wine. Olfactory senses elicit a buttload of memories and emotions because of their direct connection to the limbic system. The smell can transfer you back into that restaurant environment and even overwhelm you with memories more so than a picture or sound can.

An olfactory cue is the strongest for memory as it typically elicits more memories than visual or auditory cues. It's something that's taught in psych 101 when they break down the different parts of the brain. Basically, the smells go from your nasal cavity directly into the limbic system (where emotions are generated and memories are formed).

[Admin_2]

I think you're referring to it on the basic level of memory. For example, I see a picture of a glass of red wine and I remember that it is a glass of red wine. Olfactory senses elicit a buttload of memories and emotions because of their direct connection to the limbic system. The smell can transfer you back into that restaurant environment and even overwhelm you with memories more so than a picture or sound can.

An olfactory cue is the strongest for memory as it typically elicits more memories than visual or auditory cues. It's something that's taught in psych 101 when they break down the different parts of the brain. Basically, the smells go from your nasal cavity directly into the limbic system (where emotions are generated and memories are formed).

and no, I'm not pulling this outa my a*s:

Google: What sense is most closely linked to memory?

[admin]

You mean like when I fart I remember I asked for extra onions and all of the emotions I had when I ate the burrito?

[Admin_2]

You mean like when I fart I remember I asked for extra onions and all of the emotions I had when I ate the burrito?

Something along those lines...

[SoBeIt]

Now Im going to make "used panties online shop" targetting to Japanese customers-.

Per per sniff - Download it now!

[Admin_2]

Now Im going to make "used panties online shop" targetting to Japanese customers-.

Per per sniff - Download it now!

I'm divided on whether or not I like that idea.

[English_Bob]

and no, I'm not pulling this outa my a*s:

Google: What sense is most closely linked to memory?

I heard this many times before. When I was at primary school, the headmaster used to smoke a pipe (yes, THAT long ago!). His office and corridors smelt of his brand of tobacco. To this day, I can still recognise it - although I have never seen the packet, I know it's the same one he used to smoke.

I'm also a fan of songs and memories - some remind me of a specific night, event, period or person very strongly. It always amazes me that I can hear a song 25 years later and remember every word and note.

[Admin_2]

The smell from my Aunt's house always bring back a flood of memories. Everything from my grandmother to Christmas to old baseball cards.

Perfumes from x-girlfriends also bring back a lot as well.