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Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

newscientist.com

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Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#61

Post by bct »

jerf wrote: post #37
sixtofour wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you think this could ever be open source. It will be expensive to develop, and no corporation will spend the money to do so and then open source the software. It may (not likely) be jail breakable, but you still have to pay (probably) thousands to get it. I was thinking one way for people to afford them would be to accept ads. I would hate that, and I think I'd just wear glasses or normal contacts. In fact…

Hardware isn't software. I run open source on my hardware, but my hardware isn't open source. If your logic held, open source wouldn't be possible.

That it's possible now with most hardware doesn't mean much. There are powerful entities that have been working for years to ensure that open source is only possible where & when it suits them.

New devices are much more locked down than they would have been a decade ago. That's not an accident or a fad.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#62

Post by jessriedel »

felipemnoa wrote: post #53
jessriedel wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do doctors think you're brain did enough development when you were an infant that it would handle visual info coming from your bad eye if your retina were replaced? I was under the impression that someone like you (who grew up without using the eye) might not be able to usefully interpret the signals from the eye if it were repaired.

The brain can adapt to "seeing" images through the tongue [1] so I don't think this would be a problem. The brain is always adapting to new inputs. [1] http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattongue

There are limits to its adaptability, especially for processing-heavy tasks like vision for which the brain has specialized hardware. There is a world of difference between interpreting 144 electrodes to pick out just a couple of bits of information, and seeing.

In particular, if the brain were infinitely plastic then you could just wire the output from a HD video camera to some random spot on the brain and wait for the brain to figure it out.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#63

Post by davidblondeau »

jessriedel wrote: post #46
tallanvor wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily it was only a single retina that was damaged, and it was due to a parasite when I was under a year old, so I've never actually known what it was like to have two good eyes. You can get by with only one eye, but you don't have any real depth perception and you don't get any benefits from 3D movies (although you still get all the downsides). Plus, although I would love to try laser surgery to improve my vision…

Do doctors think you're brain did enough development when you were an infant that it would handle visual info coming from your bad eye if your retina were replaced? I was under the impression that someone like you (who grew up without using the eye) might not be able to usefully interpret the signals from the eye if it were repaired.

I suffered from strabismus while an infant and got surgery at 5. For some unfortunate reasons, I did not get sufficient vision therapy and this turned into amblyopia (lazy eye).

20 years later, as an adult, I had weekly vision therapy for close to 1 year (once a week). All the other patients where kids less than 10 y/o. Although it is considered very hard (or impossible) to correct amblyopia in adults (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyopia#Treatments), my doctor was very open minded and we tried a lot of different exercises with more or less success.

I made some progress so the brain can learn some tricks. For example, I learned to switch my point of view from one eye to the other. I can also force my brain to see from both eyes at the same time though I then see double and the images are not aligned and the lazy eye's image is darker.

At the end, I stopped active therapy for two reasons. First, because I was scared that I would end up in a state where I would see double all the time and not be able to control it anymore. I know it is not very pragmatic but as talanvor said, I will not risk loosing my one good eye. Second, because it was becoming very expensive and the insurance was not ready to cover this kind of treatment for adults.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#64

Post by DilipJ »

Symmetry wrote: post #39
DilipJ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that was in jest (if not, you may be turning into a supervillian), but the actual implications of having facial recognition built into contacts is immense. It will be a Minority Report type world, where anonymity would be completely gone. I guess it would mean no criminal outlaws or parole violators walking around, but for a common man to not be able to walk anywhere without everyone around him knowing everyth…

It is, but then again that's what most humans have lived their entire lives doing, living in small communities where everyone knew everyone else since childhood.

isn't that why most people leave small towns, to go to a big city and be anonymous. To be able to get away from their past?

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#65

Post by DilipJ »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #47
DilipJ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that was in jest (if not, you may be turning into a supervillian), but the actual implications of having facial recognition built into contacts is immense. It will be a Minority Report type world, where anonymity would be completely gone. I guess it would mean no criminal outlaws or parole violators walking around, but for a common man to not be able to walk anywhere without everyone around him knowing everyth…

I imagine that sharing facial-recognition data will be protected by new laws - although, of course, it won't work. Perhaps we'll start seeing new fashions arise as a result: http://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/03/cv-dazzle/

I guess we would no longer need passports or any government id. Just one look at us by the authorities and that's it.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#66

Post by JeffL »

inty wrote: post #52

Interestingly enough, I think a technology like this has to be monitored by professional sports--maybe not now, but I could see this type of technology being the new frontier in "cheating". It seems like the logical next step in performance enhancement. Imagine a display that could read the velocity of a fastball, measure the drop of a sinker, read a quarterbacks heart rate, or judge which receiver is the most open.…

If everyone has access to these, then maybe it just makes the sports more exciting and enjoyable for all the players and fans to have extra information?

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#67

Post by mietek »

jessriedel wrote: post #62
felipemnoa wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brain can adapt to "seeing" images through the tongue [1] so I don't think this would be a problem. The brain is always adapting to new inputs. [1] http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattongue

There are limits to its adaptability, especially for processing-heavy tasks like vision for which the brain has specialized hardware. There is a world of difference between interpreting 144 electrodes to pick out just a couple of bits of information, and seeing. In particular, if the brain were infinitely plastic then you could just wire the output from a HD video camera to some random spot on the brain and wait for…

Have you tried doing that?

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#68

Post by mietek »

gmac wrote: post #30
cstuder wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some lenses, I think mostly the soft ones, are asymmetrical: They are intentionally heavier on the bottom and let gravity rotate them into place.

Yes -- those are toric lenses, for correcting astigmatism. Unfortunately it makes them rather thicker and less comfortable than the usual ones.

Funnily enough, I just picked up today my first ever daily disposable lenses for correcting astigmatism. These are the most comfortable lenses I've ever worn, including regular daily disposables.
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