Brainbar = Nutri-matic

February 22, 2005

Engadget points out The Brainbar, a contraption that will analyze a bar patron's thoughts and deliver the optimal drink for that person's desires: The Brainbar: autosoused

Enter the Brainbar—a barback’s best friend or a bartender’s worst nightmare, depending on who you ask. Hook up an electroencephalogram (EEG) reader to the drinker’s head, and readings of the alpha and beta wavelengths that correspond to the current state of their mind’s activity will inform the Brainbar which drink to mix.

Now this sounds like a very familiar concept, but it took me a few minutes to realize where I had heard about a similar idea: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

When the drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The Nutri-Matic was designed and manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation whose complaints department now covers all the major landmasses of the first three planets in the Sirius Tau Star system.

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ch 17.

The complete trailer for the Hitchhiker's guide film is now available at the movie site.

Posted by Andrew Raff at February 22, 2005 03:53 PM