Google glasses: A view of the future

A pair of computerized eyeglasses that streams data onto the lenses in front of your face sounds like science fiction, said Barbara Ortutay in the Associated Press. But Google’s “Project Glass” is soon to become a reality. Google revealed last week that it was working on a pair of Internet-connected spectacles able to do “everything you now need a smartphone or tablet computer to do—and then some.” The glasses will display readouts on the lenses, above the normal line of sight; as you’re walking, Google Maps directions will “appear literally before your eyes.” When you meet someone new, their social-network profile will appear next to their face. Google claims to have already built a prototype, despite skepticism from the tech world that such technology yet exists. But if Google can bring this wearable computer to the masses, we’ll be nearing the point “where the line between human and machine blurs.”

I’m no Luddite, said Linda Holmes in NPR.org, but my reaction is “an icy chill of horror.” Strapping digital goggles to my head would not only be distracting, it would eliminate “all the parts of life that are effectively games of chance”—like taking the wrong street and “noticing a store you’ve never seen before.” By making us into super-efficient cyborgs, Google’s glasses would screen out happenstance, mistakes, and unpredictability, and thus rob us of the “serendipitous blasts of good fortune” that make life interesting. So don’t buy them, then, said Tom Scott in TheDailyBeast.com. As for me, I want a pair of Google glasses, so they can take over “for the parts of my brain that don’t work very well.” I have a terrible memory, so it would be a pleasure to have my glasses remind me “who people are, where I’ve met them before, and how much money I currently owe them.” The glasses could even video every moment of your life and record everything you and other people say, for future reference.

That future, however, is still years away, said Ed Oswald in PCWorld.com. Google has some major issues to iron out first. A pair of glasses that puts data in your line of sight could put drivers and pedestrians in danger. And its ability to harvest data from every area of your daily life has enormous implications for privacy. “You think Google’s ads are too personal now? Imagine those ads after wearing Google glasses!”

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