Google Glass stresses me out

favicon I like technology, and I like Google, but Google Glass is stressing me out.

Take a look at this video by The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky. He asks, “Doesn’t it seem weird to you that…to get people having more human interactions…we have to augment ourselves with Glass? Have we done something wrong? Like, have we screwed up somewhere fundamental?”

The end of the video (“this can help every human being” / “baby steps”) is haunting.

What are your thoughts? Is this the part where the robots take us over? favicon

7 Comments

  1. My (visually impaired) husband’s take: It’s like they’re saying “We have the technology that can help you and improve your quality of life, but we aren’t going to use it that way, so F you. F you.”

  2. Thank you, Laura. My friend on Twitter had a very similar sentiment. I’m concerned that Google hasn’t thought very deeply about Glass. All tech companies (especially the biggies) should closely consider the moral/social implications of their products.

  3. I was apprehensive when someone shared a video of it. It seemed way too distracted – too much information, too close. But the video you shared, well it reminded me of something – Beijing 1999. I saw some lone college students talking to themselves. Totally took me off guard – I thought they were off their rocker – until I notice they were talking with earbuds into their cellphones. Nowadays, you wouldn’t look twice at ppl talking to themselves on the street. Glass, or something like it, may become ubiquitous sooner than we think.

    1. Lori, I agree with you — Glass will become ordinary and everyday. And what I think is weird will become commonplace. This is the way with technology, I suppose. Is there a point when we say no-more — or maybe not-that? (By the time we’re old, won’t there be Google chips in our brains?)

  4. As a person with glasses, I feel like they didn’t really have an answer as to how Glass and my glasses would work together, if at all.

    Aside from that, I can’t really predict if people will dig it or not. I guess I tried to apply it to my own proclivities, and would I want to have my book projected in front of my eyes?

    I did like how the google guy said at the beginning that we want to remove the hindrance or cumbersome nature of technology. I feel that way a little bit with e-books. I have many colleagues who feel that e-books and Kindles just get in the way too much. So, I like the spirit, but don’t know if this is like laser disks, or jet packs. A thing that sounds cool but no one actually wants. Only time and teenagers will tell, since they seem to drive a large part of the market.

  5. Mark, I like that. Google chip. “Honey, have you updated to the latest software update, GC 3.1 today?” “Do we need to call the technician to look at our backyard cell tower?”

  6. Lori, it’s going to happen! (The GC 3.1 update offers parents GPS location of their child. Now that might be useful, right?)

    Meg, I think that Google is going to figure something out where Glass works for people like me and you who wear glasses. And I predict that Glass, once it comes down in price, will likely be ubiquitous, as Lori suggests.

    As for reading, I can see point that many people prefer the feel of a physical book. But otherwise, it’s pretty clear to me that e-readers actually take away distractions from reading. It’s just the screen and the same font, over and over and over again. (There is, of course, a greater distraction at the beginning. E-readers, after all, don’t generally do a good job of showing off a book’s cover or enticing the would-be reader.)

    Yeah, I might be a hypocrite here — by being anti-Glass and pro-Kindle. What do you think? Should I return all my Kindles and go back exclusively to the physical classroom library?

What do you think?