Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home • Hacker News Board

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#21

Post by NegativeK » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:11 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #14

devcpp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'll commit suicide long before this kind of "technology" arrives. That's kind of strong... >It does nothing to advance the human race except make them lazier. You seem to believe that humans are supposed to use their muscles to do stuff. But why should we not voluntarily "evolve" to become intelligences that control our environment through our brains and harness it through minimal interactions? Is our goal not to d…

I admit, the suicide part was far-fetched, but tell me once that you'd like to sit in front of a computer all day, absorbing knowledge endlessly. No food. No walking. No sleeping. No sex. Tell me that you would want that. Who wants to be a brain?

> No food. No walking. No sleeping. No sex.

That's quite hyperbolic.

Is it unacceptable laziness to use a dishwasher, even though it's more efficient? A car to travel two miles? A remote instead of walking over to the TV? Cruise control on your car? A riding mower instead of a self-propelled walk behind?

We've always been pushing for ways that let us do things with less effort. I think we just need to accept that in order to stay healthy, we need to be active in ways we enjoy instead of by relying on doing things the hard way/slightly less easy way.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#22

Post by samstave » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

Cushman wrote: post #17

kunai wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit, the suicide part was far-fetched, but tell me once that you'd like to sit in front of a computer all day, absorbing knowledge endlessly. No food. No walking. No sleeping. No sex. Tell me that you would want that. Who wants to be a brain?

I am a brain, wired permanently to a pretty primitive first-run body. It works okay, but it's all downhill for the next fifty-eighty years or so. Why on earth wouldn't I want to upgrade that?

Your body is not primitive, try becoming advanced at a complex martial art, a sport or an artisan of a beautiful craft.

Look into history at the things built with our bodies.

The only thing primitive is thinking that our bodies are not exquisite works of artistic science in this utterly beautiful universe.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#23

Post by Cushman » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:28 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #22

Cushman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a brain, wired permanently to a pretty primitive first-run body. It works okay, but it's all downhill for the next fifty-eighty years or so. Why on earth wouldn't I want to upgrade that?

Your body is not primitive, try becoming advanced at a complex martial art, a sport or an artisan of a beautiful craft. Look into history at the things built with our bodies. The only thing primitive is thinking that our bodies are not exquisite works of artistic science in this utterly beautiful universe.

Imagine a descendant of humanity fifty thousand years from now unearthing my bones and tell me I'm not primitive.

When you worship the beauty and wonder of the universe, don't forget to include the most wonderful part: the future.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#24

Post by kunai » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:39 PM UTC

NegativeK wrote: post #21

kunai wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit, the suicide part was far-fetched, but tell me once that you'd like to sit in front of a computer all day, absorbing knowledge endlessly. No food. No walking. No sleeping. No sex. Tell me that you would want that. Who wants to be a brain?

> No food. No walking. No sleeping. No sex. That's quite hyperbolic. Is it unacceptable laziness to use a dishwasher, even though it's more efficient? A car to travel two miles? A remote instead of walking over to the TV? Cruise control on your car? A riding mower instead of a self-propelled walk behind? We've always been pushing for ways that let us do things with less effort. I think we just need to accept that in…

I agree, however, that's not what the person I replied to was implying.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#25

Post by aquaroris » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:45 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #8

Is this seriously the future? Where people are so lazy they can't use any strength at all to open a fridge or pressing a goddamn button to open a garage? Guess I should have seen it coming. I'll commit suicide long before this kind of "technology" arrives. Only because it's not technology. It does nothing to advance the human race except make them lazier. Stop the madness. /old person rant

What I'm beginning to think is that the "make life easier" and more convenient isn't the primary reason for doing what Google is doing nowadays.

Sure, these things make your life that much more accessible, but as opposed to that being the selling point of the product, it is a sort of a hook, an enticement.

It seems to be that by capturing more parts of our personal lives, Google will be able to develop better human language algorithms and sentiment analysis algorithms.

I think what we say and correspond in public is a filtered, impersonal language highly adapted to the audience we are speaking to. In addition, language deals a lot with the environment and a lot with contextual and non-verbal clues, more, I suspect, than linguists think. Hence it is difficult to develop accurate human language models from impersonal, public correspondence.

But by going into the home, Google will have a better opportunity to directly observe the emotional core that shapes the deepest beliefs and opinions of its consumers, and serve targeted ads to the categories of people who will respond best to said targeted ads.

Of course, the data collected have more value than targeted ads. But I think it's well worth keeping an eye on the advertising industry and taking note how their advertisements shape (irrational) demand.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#26

Post by samstave » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:56 PM UTC

Cushman wrote: post #23

samstave wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your body is not primitive, try becoming advanced at a complex martial art, a sport or an artisan of a beautiful craft. Look into history at the things built with our bodies. The only thing primitive is thinking that our bodies are not exquisite works of artistic science in this utterly beautiful universe.

Imagine a descendant of humanity fifty thousand years from now unearthing my bones and tell me I'm not primitive. When you worship the beauty and wonder of the universe, don't forget to include the most wonderful part: the future .

While that may be true, your conscious only experiences the Now, and focusing on what other form conscious will take in the future and not enjoying what you are now could rob you of deeply experience what you already are.

Re: Google applies for another Glass patent, controlling your home

#27

Post by Cushman » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 5:34 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #26

Cushman wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a descendant of humanity fifty thousand years from now unearthing my bones and tell me I'm not primitive. When you worship the beauty and wonder of the universe, don't forget to include the most wonderful part: the future .

While that may be true, your conscious only experiences the Now, and focusing on what other form conscious will take in the future and not enjoying what you are now could rob you of deeply experience what you already are.

One of the things I'm experiencing Now is a sense of limitless unfolding possibility for the future. Ignoring that would also rob me of a deep experience of what I have.