Abstract

This paper is devoted to the concept of anti-hedonistic artifacts or anti-hedonistic machines. Up to this time, people have used their creativity to design machines to «help people to do» something. But there are emerging examples of machines designed to «prevent people from doing something». Such machines can be defined as anti-hedonistic machines or, more generally, anti-hedonistic artifacts. Examples are: intragastric balloons to prevent people from eating; timed cigarettes box to prevent people from smoking; special bracelets (reminders) to prevent people from nail biting, lifelog cameras to prevent people from taking a negative behavior, etc. This work presents a general framework for anti-hedonistic machines and artifacts, providing general definitions, an evolutionary viewpoint and a possible classification.