In a manner reminiscent of fiction, new technologies seem to be bound to transform the way we experience the world. The lines between reality and fiction have been blurred with the introduction of Google Glass, a wearable, hands-free, head-mounted computer, and the associated future possibilities with enhanced reality technologies.
It is important not to incur in technological determinism. While technologies do have an important effect on human life, the change is not brought by the technologies themselves, but by the way in which we use them. Thus, it is important to ask ourselves, how will we use these new technologies?
It would be extremely useful to be able to walk down the street and have an interface introducing the information that you request. You could have all the applications that smartphones have, but in a much more user-friendly way.
These technologies could have an enormous impact on our worldview, as long as the information being displayed in the interface is under your own control.
How would the information displayed be controlled? Would it display advertisements or information about stores we walk by? If this is the case, then we are talking about a whole different experience.
The amount of information being bombarded in our brains is already colossal. Imagine if we had pop-ups detailing consumerist information anywhere we go!
According to Forbes, “Glass brings the precision of Internet advertising to the physical world.
Imagine a Glass-clad consumer walking down the street, passing virtual coupons on storefronts. In theory, this person could see the faces of friends who like the store. If the individual passes a bar, she could command Glass to locate friends nearby or tweet out her location along with the photo of the bar.
While it’s not now possible to do many of these things on Glass, the foundation is there. Indeed, the biggest challenges Google faces with Glass are not technological, but social.”
It also raises some security issues. Where would the information be stored, and how would it be protected? Since the device would be extremely user-friendly, it is likely that people would use it for a high variety of practices.
If our phones already contain vast information about our personal lives, just envision the amount of information captured by a device that sees the world through our eyes.
Will the device distract us from what we might be doing? What about its impacts on driving? Will multi-tasking affect the way we concentrate?
It is thought-provoking to study the ways our brain activity might change when using these devices, and how they could respond to the large amount of information that they can deliver.
Will Google Glass be the end of smartphones?
It could be interesting to see whether our reality would be enhanced by the interface, or if it would become a barrier to reality.
To what extent would we focus on the interface, and not on what we are actually looking at? There are extensive studies which show that uncontrollably taking pictures distracts us from actually forming real memories, since we see events and places through our phones rather than our eyes.
The impact of this type of technology will depend on finding the right balance. The important question to ask is: will our reality be enhanced or repressed?