I don’t even know where to begin with this. Qinetiq, a British defense research lab is working on “intelligent” airline seats that could alert the cabin crew to passengers acting in a nervous or anxious manner who could turn out to be terrorists. The seats have pressure sensors that connect to a central computer and can automatically gauge whether passengers are sleeping or behaving unusually:
[I]f the seat reveals the passenger may be in a state of high anxiety, the display can discreetly alert the cabin crew. They can then assess whether the passenger presents a risk: are they simply frightened of flying? An air-rager in the making? Or a hijacker about to make their move?
The idea that you could catch terrorists this way is simply ridiculous, but the article does point out some actual, feasible uses for this technology, like lights that automatically dim when a passenger falls asleep.
