Fund this Guy

Stefan Marti is my new favorite scientist.

According to this article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Marti, an MIT grad who now works for Samsung, has created a method in which members of a group can prevent someone else in the group from answering his or her cell phone. The article calls it "consensual interruption."

It is a bit cumbersome and not quite ready for widespread use -- those in the group (people attending a meeting, for example) wear badges, which are in wireless contact with the cell phone, and, when a call comes in, a ring everyone also is wearing vibrates, and if anyone touches their ring the call is diverted to voice-mail. I don't understand it either, but just the idea that smart people are trying to deal with this issue is the best news I have heard in a long time. The biggest downside I see is that I frequently am in close contact with far more people wielding cell phones than I have fingers. So I am guessing that, in order to be successful, Marti may have to convince everyone to start wearing ear, nose, and belly rings too.

Whatever it takes.