I don't know about you, but Google's latest patent, "Douche-Goggles", concerns me deeply. For my writing, it's not space journeys and scientific sky-pies that interest me. It's the sociological ramifications. Our lack of regard for the non-scientific tells us more of ourselves, and the nightmares we'll walk into, than anything our tinkering engineers will concoct.
Science fiction, to me, provides infinite metaphors of our disregard for the human.
Now, Google's latest metaphor is a powerful one--perhaps more so than any story to which I can aspire, so I'll just sit back in awe. Watch the first video, then spot the similarity three minutes into the second.
If only humans weren't insane. Much as I love Pearl Jam, Nirvana's lyrics hit the nail on the head with, "Empathy is what we lack. Doesn't matter anyways."
To be constantly connected to our virtua-friends is to be less connected to our non-virtua-reality. There is only so much span for attention in the human mind, and only so much time in a life.
A lesser note, and one that critics actually are talking about: what will happen when everyone feels they could be constantly recorded by those surrounding them? Sociological ramifications have been proven many times to be beyond the comprehension of the thoughtless Google think tank. (There's a great Storyville documentary on Google Books, called "Google and the World Brain". I highly recommend it.)
Sadly, Douche-Goggles will still be worn by douches everywhere one day. Perhaps "Ok Glass, deploy parachute!" won't always work when douches are skydiving.
Now, Google's latest metaphor is a powerful one--perhaps more so than any story to which I can aspire, so I'll just sit back in awe. Watch the first video, then spot the similarity three minutes into the second.
If only humans weren't insane. Much as I love Pearl Jam, Nirvana's lyrics hit the nail on the head with, "Empathy is what we lack. Doesn't matter anyways."
To be constantly connected to our virtua-friends is to be less connected to our non-virtua-reality. There is only so much span for attention in the human mind, and only so much time in a life.
A lesser note, and one that critics actually are talking about: what will happen when everyone feels they could be constantly recorded by those surrounding them? Sociological ramifications have been proven many times to be beyond the comprehension of the thoughtless Google think tank. (There's a great Storyville documentary on Google Books, called "Google and the World Brain". I highly recommend it.)
Sadly, Douche-Goggles will still be worn by douches everywhere one day. Perhaps "Ok Glass, deploy parachute!" won't always work when douches are skydiving.
1 comment:
Sorry for the re-post. I'm figuring all this high-tech-ery out, I promise. Trying to snazz up my blog has had its pitfalls.
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