Israeli team develops software to spot depressed bloggers.

Israeli researchers have developed software that claims to identify depressed bloggers by analyzing their writing.

The software's initial test run, which was part of a research study headed by Professor Yair Neuman of Ben-Gurion University's department of education, combed more than 1,000 blog posts written by American bloggers that were online in 2004.

Neuman said the software could enable mental health workers to identify individuals in need of treatment and to recommend that they seek help.

"What does all of this mean from a practical standpoint?" he asked."First of all, it shows that the technology is here and available and that it could be put to use."
In the United States there is a wideranging problem with depression," said Neuman.

"Through this software it will be possible to contact a blogger and request a general examination of the contents of his blog. If the blogger agrees, he will know whether he needs to seek professional counseling for any possible distress."

The research and development for the software was funded by the Defense Ministry, yet Ben-Gurion University officials said yesterday the project would not be used for military purposes.

Here is link to the site:

Okay so why would the Defense Ministry fund this project if they had no interest in making use of it for military purposes? I find that very hard to believe. If they can find 'depressed' people then im sure that they can find 'people who are displeased with their governments'

Also, can we now expect the men in white coats to start hauling people away from their computers because this software has told them that these people need medical help?


[edit on 24-6-2010 by Lady_Tuatha]

www.haaretz.com... /news/israeli-team-develops-software-to-spot-depressed-bloggers-1.297340

My link keeps coming up blank when I try to insert it it looks okay when I preview it and other links I have added before have shown up ok,

so, they don't wish to single out people by some political commisar / high priest pointing fingers at suspects, because that would be too nazi, but hey, if >software< does it, it's all credible, right?


what a hoot, this would be perfect comedy material if only the lunatics weren't in charge of the asylum

i mean the whole notion makes the use of lobotomy look scientific. will they ever check the results irl? how could they, i smell a huge influx to the no-fly list, among other things...

I think that this software will find that everyone and everything is so depressed that they will find the computer running it hanging by it's mouse cord. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid...

The same country that brought you dishonesty and lies now brings you software that can make you a depressed Hamas operative in 30 seconds- Even if you're rich, happy, and living in Hawaii!

After what I've seen, I wouldn't trust a sandwich coming out of that joint.

Originally posted by wylekat
The same country that brought you dishonesty and lies now brings you software that can make you a depressed Hamas operative in 30 seconds- Even if you're rich, happy, and living in Hawaii!

After what I've seen, I wouldn't trust a sandwich coming out of that joint.

ROFL...

Sad thing is that you are right on the spot my friend. Even most governments use technology created by Mossad cover companies. And they don't even have back-end access to these systems.

Why are they worried about depressed bloggers? Damn, aren't people allowed to be depressed anymore?

Why are they NOT going to use this on the military, or even law enforcement, where mental health issues ARE their business and can have ripple effects that effect thousands?

And finally what are they going to do, break down the depressed people's doors like Nazi storm troopers and haul them away?

These people need to reprioritize and focus on things that matter.

I wonder who funded this research? And I sure hope none of my money did.

[edit on 24-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

Then their machine will notify mossad to help them along ...

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


I saw an article about this a while back. They use some type of algorithm to spot similarities in writing to analyze viewpoints at specific times. I bet they use it all over facebook too!!!!!!!

psycho analysation isnt always correct, and wot ppl write isnt always what they believe, people put on fronts, people lie, and tests can be flawed for some people. yeah govts have their secret ways to psycho analyse us, and theyll do it for military reasons, policing ones, health ones and for other reasons.
some good may come from it but some bad may also come from it, software can never beat personal investigation. Anybody in govt with billions at their disposal can appear to be doing good and not bad, but it is really really bad govts learning too much of the civilians. History has proven it to be a bad thing cause the information ends up in the hands who mean to misuse that info

[edit on 14-7-2010 by thegreatestone]

Yeah I've seen other things a little like this.

It's really the honest face of all these social networking data gold mines finding an application.

The raw data is there, and I put it into 2 main groups, publicly available and available if you have *ahem, access...

I can trawl the publicly available data with the best of them, but to make it efficient and a realistic proposal I would need to automate the process, so we need cyber bots! (just called bots, like googles crawler bots).

But which ever area your interested in or have access to it's all the same, you have the raw data and you draw up your goals.. You then figure out some clever algorithm's or wot nots and then you have results. - It's really the only purpose for sites like face book, FB not only processes the data for their own needs it will happily sell it to anyone.

It's an area that attracts very large investment, and not only from advertisers.

Nice post.

This app is really the thin end of the wedge ... here, they're using a profiling system which is wide-ranging and resolvable in binary in every instance ... but it's ok to release this because it's apparently benevolent use hahahahah ... test accomplished

Next steps: keep wide bandwidth search function, but narrow and vary parameters, apply to all email, SMS and voicemail through integrated international comms hubs (military)

Next steps: scanning and profiling brainwaves in conjunction with real-time DNA analysis via innoculated biochip




[edit on 13-8-2010 by the_journey_in]

god, is there no end to this travesty,now they want to close all blogs and call us depressed and crazy and in need of medical attention.....

This just seems like a terrible idea to me.

I mean, it's fascinating from a theoretical perspective, but the idea of it actually being applied is kind of terrifying.

As someone who has had a lifelong struggle with major depression, I can only project from how I would feel if I got an email from some group telling me that they'd run my writings through a computer to determine whether I needed a psych evaluation.

I'd be angry and honestly more likely to stop writing than to seek help because of such a contact.

It's also interesting that the study compared the computer program's ability to identify "depressed" bloggers with trained therapists' abilities to identify "depressed" bloggers, but there's no mention of whether there was any follow-up into whether or not the bloggers are actually depressed.

It seems like circular reasoning to me: presumably the computer program was fed with information that was derived from experts' opinions on words and phrases that might indicate depression, so wouldn't you expect the results that they got?

As far as I can tell in the article, there's no way to know if the bloggers identified as "depressed" would actually be diagnosed with depression if they were evaluated in person.


edit to add a working link to the article:
www.haaretz.com

[edit on 8/13/2010 by americandingbat]

Considering the world we live in and how self centered and superficial we have all become.

If you aren't depressed you're not paying attention.

I think this does not have a particularly good use. I think it will be used as a tool to identify people who are not just depressed, but angry at the conduct of their government. This is obviously not good.

Technically I suppose one could even use it to justify institutionalizing people who the government doesn't like, after all mental patients have less rights than criminals do.

Who needs a computer to tell if a blogger is depressed?
Just read the damn blog.

If they post EMO pictures of themselves and talk about suicide. Maybe the blogger is depressed.


I know what everybody is getting at. I didn't miss the point. I just thought this was a funny headline is all.