The Decay Of Lying

The diagram which accompanied Google's patent for the throat tattoo

Motorola has filed a patent for a throat tattoo which not only blocks out background noise in a bid to make telephone conversations in crowded restaurants easier, but also flashes when it thinks you are lying.

According to the patent filed in the US by Motorola, who were owned by Google at the time, the tattoo could solve the problem of strained telephone conversations in “large stadiums, busy streets, restaurants and emergency situations”.

“Communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts”, the patent reads.

The unnamed device would serve as an “auxiliary voice input to a mobile communication device”; essentially a noise-cancelling microphone for your mobile phone which you stick on your neck.

But the tattoo’s creators also envisage it could have lie-detecting capabilities.
Equipped with a display that lights up under certain conditions, “the electronic skin tattoo can further include a galvanic skin response detector to detect skin resistance of a user.”

The patent continues: “It is contemplated that a user may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual.”

Although the device has merely been filed as a patent, meaning it may never be tested or produced, its designers imagine its use would extend beyond humans.

“Here it is contemplated that the electronic tattoo can also be applied to an animal as well”, the patent says.

“Audio circuitry can also include a microphone for emitting sound corresponding to fluctuations of muscle or tissue in the throat.”

Dr. Strabismus (Whom God Preserve) of Utrecht is carrying out research work with a view to crossing salmon with mosquitoes. He says it will mean a bite every time for fishermen.