May 9, 2016 • 8 mins
Disney may be using a fleet of drones to protect "Star Wars" sets from spies. Virtual reality is proving a hugely successful therapeutic tool for treating paranoia. Plus, a new wearable device claims it can shock your bad habits away.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to How Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren
Volga Baum, a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works.
Every week, I'm bringing you three stories from a team
about the weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, tech,
and culture. Today's episode is about how new technologies are
shaping our minds and our movie spoilers. Disney might be
(00:23):
using aerial drones to protect Star Wars filming locations from
being photographed. And meanwhile, in the lab, virtual reality is
helping patients treat crippling paranoia. But first, my fellow writer
in researcher Christian Seger brings us news about a wearable
device that claims it can help you get over your
bad habits and fast. But can a gizmo really delete
(00:44):
your temptations by delivering electric shocks? Everyone has bad habits
they want to break. Drinking, smoking, shoplifting expensive underwear from
department stores. A new product promises they supposedly solution, not
unlike attaching a car battery clamp to yourself. Pavlock is
(01:04):
a one device you wear on your wrist that shocks
you with between fifty and four hundred and fifty volts.
To create negative associations with bad habits. According to The
New York Times Jennifer Jolly, at its worst, Pavlock feels
like getting stung by a bee with a stinger the
size of an ice pick. Just download the app, choose
(01:26):
your bad habit, and get zapping. The company that produces
Pavlock says it takes at least five days to blast
the bad habit out of you. It's creator, an entrepreneur
named Maniche Saeti, raised Pavlock funding on indie go go
and from angel investors. He's only now planning clinical trials
of the device, despite the fact that ten thousand people
(01:47):
have already used it, So by my math, that's two
million dollars he's made without any regulation or review. Let's
be clear, this isn't electro convulsive therapy like they did
that Poor Lady and Requiem for a Dream. No. Pavlock
purports to be based on the research of Ivan Have Love,
get It, pav Love Pavlock. Yeah, anyway. Pavlov is known
(02:10):
for ringing a bell whenever he fed his dogs. He
did this so many times that the dogs began salivating
just when they heard the bell. This kind of training
is called classical conditioning and led to psychological theories about
how it might work in US humans. But hold up.
While some conditioning relies on punishment instead of rewards, pavlock
is more like aversion therapy, where a patient learns to
(02:32):
associate discomfort with an undesirable behavior, kind of like in
Clockwork Orange when Alex is electrocuted and given nauseating drugs,
so he'll associate his violent urges with sickening feelings. But
what about drinking or smoking? Would pavlock work on that well.
Some hospitals have reported success with a version therapy, and
ones even interested in using this new device, But the
(02:55):
long term success of aversion therapy is questionable and its
use in a using patients is still criticized. So until
padlock has been further studied, we don't know if it's
any better than just snapping a rubber band on your wrist.
Doctors recommend other long term therapeutic options for dealing with
your bad habits. Next up, senior writer Robert Lamb reports
(03:21):
on the study of patients who are dealing with fears
that make it difficult for them to get around in
public spaces, therapy involving virtual reality proved incredibly effective. The
researchers brought in thirty people diagnosed with illusions of persecution.
They each underwin a five minute behavioral test that forced
(03:42):
them to engage with a real world, high stress social situation,
like venturing to the local tube station and catching a train.
Then the researchers rolled out some virtual reality cognitive therapy.
They strapped them into some VR headgear and thrust them
into a simulated version of the same stressful environment to
be instructed. Some of the patients to use their normal
(04:02):
defensive strategies such as avoiding eye contact, while the rest
were encouraged to lean into their fears to actually approach
the virtual strangers on the train and look them in
their uncanny eyes. Essentially, it amounts to exposure therapy only
within the safe but immersive confines of a virtual world. Now, granted,
this was a small study and we don't have the
benefit of long term follow up here, but the results
(04:24):
are encouraging. Even the group that's stuck to their defensive
behaviors experienced some reduction in paranoia, while the rest reported
greater reductions, with more than half exhibiting snow severe paranoia
at the end of testing. Now, don't expect the entire
landscape of psychiatric care to change overnight, but this is
yet another study that demonstrates virtual realities potential as a
(04:46):
treatment option for mental health professionals. Past studies have explored
the use of VR and the treatment of addiction, PTSD, depression,
and autism. Now we can add paranoia into the mix,
so long as no one accidentally pops one of those
kulis riffed hard titles into the VR rig instead. Finally, today,
(05:11):
senior writer Jonathan Strickland explains how on the set of
the new Star Wars movies, these are the drones you're
looking for. The Den of Geek website reported a while
back that the production crew for Star Wars eight had
a problem with pests, specifically the robotic flying kind. While
(05:34):
the crew was shooting in the UK, drones with cameras
hovered around locations trying to capture images and video. According
to Dinner Geek, things were about to change as the
crew prepared to move to Croatia. The movie Security Force
would have some new members pilots operating drones of their
own with the mission to bring down any pesky spies
(05:55):
and while drone on drone combat can be exciting to
watch as proof and by organizations like the Aerial Sport League.
The question remains, is it legal if not all parties
are consenting, and by it we mean any of it?
Is it legal to use drones to spy on a
movie production? Is it legal for a movie crew to
(06:15):
bring down a drone, whether with a counterattack drone or
some other means. That's where we get into a pretty
big mess. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration
has been drafting rules for u a v s, but
the process has been pretty slow. The f a A
encourages drone hobbyists to follow community based guidelines, which aren't law.
(06:36):
Those guidelines typically include a section that says you're not
supposed to use drones to spy on people or businesses.
If the drone operator is planning on selling the images
and video, then things get more complicated. That bumps the
pilot from hobbyist to civil operator. To fly a drone
legally as a civil operator, you first must obtain a
(06:57):
Section three thirty three exemption from the f a A
that allows for commercial air flight, and civil operators are
legally bound to follow more rules than hobbyists. As for
whether it's legal to bring down a drone, that's largely
something that gets determined in individual court cases. For example,
last year, William Meredith was arrested for wanton endangerment and
(07:19):
criminal mischief for shooting down a drone flying over his property.
The judge on the case dismissed all the charges. It's
a mess, is what we're getting at. Technology has once
again outpaced the law, and we're all left waiting to
find out what happens next. Will the skies be filled
with drones knocking each other to the ground, Will we
need to carry drone proof umbrellas everywhere we go? Or
(07:43):
will the f a A take all the toys away
until we prove that we're responsible enough to use them appropriately.
That's all we've got for this week. Thanks so much
for tuning in. Subscribe now for more of the latest
and strangest science news, and hey, send us your ideas
for new stories, plus any feedback or fabulously grown worthy
(08:05):
dad jokes that you might have. Shoot us an email
at now podcast at how stuff works dot com, and
to access thousands of other stories like these, check out
our home planet Now dot how stuff Works dot com
Welcome to How Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren
Volga Baum, a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works.
Every week, I'm bringing you three stories from a team
about the weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, tech,
and culture. Today's episode is about how new technologies are
shaping our minds and our movie spoilers. Disney might be
(00:23):
using aerial drones to protect Star Wars filming locations from
being photographed. And meanwhile, in the lab, virtual reality is
helping patients treat crippling paranoia. But first, my fellow writer
in researcher Christian Seger brings us news about a wearable
device that claims it can help you get over your
bad habits and fast. But can a gizmo really delete
(00:44):
your temptations by delivering electric shocks? Everyone has bad habits
they want to break. Drinking, smoking, shoplifting expensive underwear from
department stores. A new product promises they supposedly solution, not
unlike attaching a car battery clamp to yourself. Pavlock is
(01:04):
a one device you wear on your wrist that shocks
you with between fifty and four hundred and fifty volts.
To create negative associations with bad habits. According to The
New York Times Jennifer Jolly, at its worst, Pavlock feels
like getting stung by a bee with a stinger the
size of an ice pick. Just download the app, choose
(01:26):
your bad habit, and get zapping. The company that produces
Pavlock says it takes at least five days to blast
the bad habit out of you. It's creator, an entrepreneur
named Maniche Saeti, raised Pavlock funding on indie go go
and from angel investors. He's only now planning clinical trials
of the device, despite the fact that ten thousand people
(01:47):
have already used it, So by my math, that's two
million dollars he's made without any regulation or review. Let's
be clear, this isn't electro convulsive therapy like they did
that Poor Lady and Requiem for a Dream. No. Pavlock
purports to be based on the research of Ivan Have Love,
get It, pav Love Pavlock. Yeah, anyway. Pavlov is known
(02:10):
for ringing a bell whenever he fed his dogs. He
did this so many times that the dogs began salivating
just when they heard the bell. This kind of training
is called classical conditioning and led to psychological theories about
how it might work in US humans. But hold up.
While some conditioning relies on punishment instead of rewards, pavlock
is more like aversion therapy, where a patient learns to
(02:32):
associate discomfort with an undesirable behavior, kind of like in
Clockwork Orange when Alex is electrocuted and given nauseating drugs,
so he'll associate his violent urges with sickening feelings. But
what about drinking or smoking? Would pavlock work on that well.
Some hospitals have reported success with a version therapy, and
ones even interested in using this new device, But the
(02:55):
long term success of aversion therapy is questionable and its
use in a using patients is still criticized. So until
padlock has been further studied, we don't know if it's
any better than just snapping a rubber band on your wrist.
Doctors recommend other long term therapeutic options for dealing with
your bad habits. Next up, senior writer Robert Lamb reports
(03:21):
on the study of patients who are dealing with fears
that make it difficult for them to get around in
public spaces, therapy involving virtual reality proved incredibly effective. The
researchers brought in thirty people diagnosed with illusions of persecution.
They each underwin a five minute behavioral test that forced
(03:42):
them to engage with a real world, high stress social situation,
like venturing to the local tube station and catching a train.
Then the researchers rolled out some virtual reality cognitive therapy.
They strapped them into some VR headgear and thrust them
into a simulated version of the same stressful environment to
be instructed. Some of the patients to use their normal
(04:02):
defensive strategies such as avoiding eye contact, while the rest
were encouraged to lean into their fears to actually approach
the virtual strangers on the train and look them in
their uncanny eyes. Essentially, it amounts to exposure therapy only
within the safe but immersive confines of a virtual world. Now, granted,
this was a small study and we don't have the
benefit of long term follow up here, but the results
(04:24):
are encouraging. Even the group that's stuck to their defensive
behaviors experienced some reduction in paranoia, while the rest reported
greater reductions, with more than half exhibiting snow severe paranoia
at the end of testing. Now, don't expect the entire
landscape of psychiatric care to change overnight, but this is
yet another study that demonstrates virtual realities potential as a
(04:46):
treatment option for mental health professionals. Past studies have explored
the use of VR and the treatment of addiction, PTSD, depression,
and autism. Now we can add paranoia into the mix,
so long as no one accidentally pops one of those
kulis riffed hard titles into the VR rig instead. Finally, today,
(05:11):
senior writer Jonathan Strickland explains how on the set of
the new Star Wars movies, these are the drones you're
looking for. The Den of Geek website reported a while
back that the production crew for Star Wars eight had
a problem with pests, specifically the robotic flying kind. While
(05:34):
the crew was shooting in the UK, drones with cameras
hovered around locations trying to capture images and video. According
to Dinner Geek, things were about to change as the
crew prepared to move to Croatia. The movie Security Force
would have some new members pilots operating drones of their
own with the mission to bring down any pesky spies
(05:55):
and while drone on drone combat can be exciting to
watch as proof and by organizations like the Aerial Sport League.
The question remains, is it legal if not all parties
are consenting, and by it we mean any of it?
Is it legal to use drones to spy on a
movie production? Is it legal for a movie crew to
(06:15):
bring down a drone, whether with a counterattack drone or
some other means. That's where we get into a pretty
big mess. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration
has been drafting rules for u a v s, but
the process has been pretty slow. The f a A
encourages drone hobbyists to follow community based guidelines, which aren't law.
(06:36):
Those guidelines typically include a section that says you're not
supposed to use drones to spy on people or businesses.
If the drone operator is planning on selling the images
and video, then things get more complicated. That bumps the
pilot from hobbyist to civil operator. To fly a drone
legally as a civil operator, you first must obtain a
(06:57):
Section three thirty three exemption from the f a A
that allows for commercial air flight, and civil operators are
legally bound to follow more rules than hobbyists. As for
whether it's legal to bring down a drone, that's largely
something that gets determined in individual court cases. For example,
last year, William Meredith was arrested for wanton endangerment and
(07:19):
criminal mischief for shooting down a drone flying over his property.
The judge on the case dismissed all the charges. It's
a mess, is what we're getting at. Technology has once
again outpaced the law, and we're all left waiting to
find out what happens next. Will the skies be filled
with drones knocking each other to the ground, Will we
need to carry drone proof umbrellas everywhere we go? Or
(07:43):
will the f a A take all the toys away
until we prove that we're responsible enough to use them appropriately.
That's all we've got for this week. Thanks so much
for tuning in. Subscribe now for more of the latest
and strangest science news, and hey, send us your ideas
for new stories, plus any feedback or fabulously grown worthy
(08:05):
dad jokes that you might have. Shoot us an email
at now podcast at how stuff works dot com, and
to access thousands of other stories like these, check out
our home planet Now dot how stuff Works dot com
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