Computers Reading Feelings - Is This Really A Viable New Business Idea?

Yes and no. To an extent.The New York Times today ran an article: Mining The Web For Feelings, Not Facts.

While I agree that there are some really sophisticated algorithms that employ advanced analytics to categorize feeling and opinion-related data, I highly doubt we can get beyond 80% accuracy. As the article indicates, there are too many nuances with our language. Let's not be deluded to think that a computer can pick up on irony, puns, or double entendres.

And, I certainly hope we don't get to this point.It's a scary proposition to think that our feelings and opinions will one day read like facts. Facts have their purpose, being indisputable. And sometimes it doesn't matter what the facts are: people still have feelings or opinions about things that may, indeed, not be based on any facts or despite the facts. Largely people's views are based on their perception or interpretation of the facts. And, with the explosion of social media, many times the online twitter frenzy is ruled by this kind of activity - giving a point-of-view, opinion, feeling about a product or service with few facts considered or one fact unduly weighted over another.

We have to acknowledge that our emotions and intuition rule our lives and decisions more than we would like or care to admit. That's okay - as long as we are clear that they are not facts.