23 points surprisetalk 3 days ago 13 comments
jtickle 53 minutes ago | parent
This seems exactly like the sort of shenanigan that would piss off rather than appease the wood spirits.
itissid 50 minutes ago | parent
I am ratting this out to the Tree Beard
dvh 49 minutes ago | parent
It's like FakeBlock from Arrested development
TehCorwiz 45 minutes ago | parent
If an app knocks on a tree and nobody is around…
classified 39 minutes ago | parent
The knockers are missing solar panels to continuously charge their batteries. So there will be sustained costs to keep them running. And how water-proof are they? Apart from that, it's going to sell like hot cakes.
krunck 34 minutes ago | parent
There are societies where rather than knocking on wood one turns one's head and spits. For example: "Grandad is looking well after his fall, let's hope that doesn't happen again. Ptew!"
Looking for this in app form.
weirdish 32 minutes ago | parent
I'd only buy this if it included a subscription-based AI upsell to predict and adapt to my adjusting superstition needs over time
yetihehe 32 minutes ago | parent
Knocking on wood was about knocking on unpainted wood, so that you have actual direct physical contact with wood. Remote knocking seems to go in the other direction...
skinfaxi 13 minutes ago | parent
Found this other experiment, part of the same series "Machines Responding to Superstitions".
https://www.dezeen.com/2023/10/31/kinky-kashayam-portable-bl...
Though it seems less like machine response than humans integrating technology into superstitious belief.
gosen 3 minutes ago | parent
I can't explain why but it's amazing! Maybe because in my culture "knocking on the wood 3 times" helps to avoid bad luck and lived with that habit for 20 years, or maybe it's just fun to imagine that you're knocking on the wood remotely ¯\_(ツ)_/¯