What Is This?
Telepathy as a service! Sometimes you want to ask someone a question or tell them a secret and you suspect or hope they're thinking the same thing, but it's uncomfortable to bring up. This is what Thoughter is for! For example let's say it's the holidays and you had a fight with a loved one a while back and haven't spoken since. You can push a thought like "I miss you #reconnect" that lasts one week. If the other person happens to push a thought with the same hashtag then you get each other's message. If not, nothing happens. To improve the chance of a match Thoughter can send a hint to your loved one that someone wants to #reconnect but it won't say who. Back in the old days this kind of stuff was handled through networks of close personal connections, the grapevine, friends asking friends asking friends. And perhaps even through ways that are considered supernatural in the modern world. Thoughter is a digital version of all this using internet encryption magic instead.
What Are Some More Examples?
- You're romantically interested in someone from your class or office and think they might also be interested but you have cold feet, #wannaGoOut.
- You want to share a guess or estimate with someone and guarantee a #simultaneousReveal.
- New couple is not sure if the other person wants to take it to the next level, #1stBase, #2ndBase, #3rdBase, #4thBase (as appropriate).
- Married couple trying to stick to a new diet and support each other, but both want to pig out tonight, #pigOut.
- You have a dream about somebody, want to see if they had a dream about you too, #dreamBuddies.
- Play Rock, Paper, Scissors over the intertubes, #rockPaperScissors.
- Remote coin flip. If both people think heads or both tails, then Alice wins, otherwise Bob. See how it works? It's cool! Use #coinFlip.
- Two friends are really busy and don't want to disturb each other but want to know how the other person is doing, #justCheckingUp.
- Longtime couple, both people want to break up but don't want to hurt the other person, #breakup.
- Married couple with communication problems, both want to get intimate after a long drought but not sure if the other wants to, #letsGetItOn.
- Various telepathic experiments, #whateverTheyMayBe.
- Bunch of coworkers want to see if everyone else thinks the new boss is a jerk, #mutiny (when Thoughter supports multiple parties).
- Estranged family members want to reconnect over the holidays, #reconnect (as mentioned above).
- Two people want to compare potentially embarrassing interests like bucket list items, or political opinions, or sexual preferences, or, #wellLetsLeaveItAtThat.
- Couple on their first date at a restaurant they both don't like but not sure if the other person feels the same way, #wannaLeave. Explore this case in more detail here.
- You can even use Thoughter as a secure messaging service with a pre-arranged #channelName.
Okay But Are You Spying On Me?
No! In the #reconnect example above, the person's data will be deleted after one week (or on thought match), and encrypted the entire time so that only the two people involved, nobody else, not even Thoughter itself, can decrypt it. Everything is private and anonymous to an utterly paranoid degree, with no creepy tracking or ad integration of any kind. The general idea is to ask kindly for d
onations or charge for some basic add-ons like hints and use the money to ensure your privacy, even from the service itself, instead of selling your data to the highest bidder and pretending that the service is free. Radical idea, and maybe the world's not ready for it. But more on all this boring privacy stuff here.