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A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

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21–30 of 206 posts

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#21
post #6

I disagree that people will become comfortable with Google Glass - the primary negative reaction is the voyeuristic-rejection of having a camera always pointed at you (that may or may not be recording). To which the analogy vs. headphones is not relevant. I anticipate, however, that Google (or somebody) will find a way to make this product largely invisible to anybody but the wearer in the near term future. Through m…

The analogy vs. headphones is not relevant.

I agree. It seems like a false analogy to me.

Perhaps a better comparison would be wearing a lavalier/lapel microphone. They have been around for a long time --yet people still find them unnerving and will ask you if it is on if you are wearing one.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#22
post #15
post #6

I disagree that people will become comfortable with Google Glass - the primary negative reaction is the voyeuristic-rejection of having a camera always pointed at you (that may or may not be recording). To which the analogy vs. headphones is not relevant. I anticipate, however, that Google (or somebody) will find a way to make this product largely invisible to anybody but the wearer in the near term future. Through m…

And yet most people don't have that reaction to pervasive CCTV. Which, in some places, is virtually omnipresent and constantly recording. "Smile, you're on camera ☺" And many people have no qualms sharing pretty much everything on Facebook and the like. I don't know which way it will really go, but it is really not obvious a priori that everyone is that concerned about privacy, or that society will not adapt to make…

I don't have face-to-face conversations with CCTV cameras.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#23
post #15
post #6

I disagree that people will become comfortable with Google Glass - the primary negative reaction is the voyeuristic-rejection of having a camera always pointed at you (that may or may not be recording). To which the analogy vs. headphones is not relevant. I anticipate, however, that Google (or somebody) will find a way to make this product largely invisible to anybody but the wearer in the near term future. Through m…

And yet most people don't have that reaction to pervasive CCTV. Which, in some places, is virtually omnipresent and constantly recording. "Smile, you're on camera ☺" And many people have no qualms sharing pretty much everything on Facebook and the like. I don't know which way it will really go, but it is really not obvious a priori that everyone is that concerned about privacy, or that society will not adapt to make…

It's not the same to be observed by some invisible or unknown entity than to be observed directly by a person. Someone pointing a digital camera at a person is usually more disturbing than a CCTV camera doing the same thing.

Also, Google Glass may be constantly recording in private places usually without CCTV: homes, dinner tables, meetings, etc.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#24
post #11

Maybe I'm just old, but I still think wearing headphones conveys a detached air. My reaction isn't as strong as the 1981 interview, but it's there. Anyone else feel that way?

Listening to music as I move through my day is sublime. I fucking hate the rest of you, so if people think I am merely detached, I come out way ahead.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#26
I believe the idea that these technologies is alienating is false. There are some people (such as myself) who simply do not wish to engage with their fellow passengers on a train or airplane. So, if someone politely speaks to me then I am forced to either a: engage with them (there's no harm in doing so, but I simply don't want to), or b: come up with some sort of way out of the conversation and hope to not appear rude (I don't wish to offend anyone, but I just don't want to talk to them). However, people are much less likely to speak to me if I'm wearing headphones or if I'm reading something on my phone, laptop, or tablet.

However, I also disagree here that Google Glass will stop being dorky, and I really think that it will be a while before it goes "mainstream." The reason is that people were somewhat hostile when the iPad was first released. Indeed, many people still look at tablet users as smug and see them as somehow offensive. So, as has been said here, now you're making the tablet very tiny, very expensive, and adding a nearly always-on camera to it.

Furthermore, I'd like to point out bluetooth ear pieces. You simply look like a smug bastard or an idiot when you're using one (full disclosure, I used to have one during college so that I could listen to music while riding my bike to class, but also keep an ear open for traffic etc.) And Google Glass is really not that much different from a bluetooth ear piece, except, again, that it's got a little screen and a nearly always-on camera.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#27
I still think people wearing big headphones look stupid. I've never gotten used to that. And if was chatting to somebody and they were wearing headphones I would be uncomfortable.

None of which touches on the main reason I find google glass uncomfortable- the thought that the other person could be recording everything. People say "well CCTV records you all the time" but that is a world of difference between having an overhead shot of you when you pay for gas and someone pointing a camera in your face as you're chatting to a friend.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#28
Predicting the future is hard. Some very smart people thought the Segway would change the world, but when it launched a lot of "man on the street" types thought it looked really dorky.

A decade later... it still looks dorky. (A lot of fun to use though, if you ever get the chance)

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#29
post #14

Actually, I still find big headphones weird. I bought one myself so I started finding them okay, and there are a lot of people wearing them now that it doesn't look so silly anymore. Makes me think about this as well: "Annette Kellerman promoted women’s right to wear a one-piece bathing suit like this circa 1907… She was arrested for indecency" http://i.imgur.com/3aFSWSg.jpg

I used to only wear earbuds simply because they were more portable. More recently, though, I've begun wearing a full-size set (Bowers and Wilkins P3) because I was tired of my music sounding "small." The difference is amazing and I'll never go back.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#30
post #15
post #6

I disagree that people will become comfortable with Google Glass - the primary negative reaction is the voyeuristic-rejection of having a camera always pointed at you (that may or may not be recording). To which the analogy vs. headphones is not relevant. I anticipate, however, that Google (or somebody) will find a way to make this product largely invisible to anybody but the wearer in the near term future. Through m…

And yet most people don't have that reaction to pervasive CCTV. Which, in some places, is virtually omnipresent and constantly recording. "Smile, you're on camera ☺" And many people have no qualms sharing pretty much everything on Facebook and the like. I don't know which way it will really go, but it is really not obvious a priori that everyone is that concerned about privacy, or that society will not adapt to make…

If you're sitting down to have coffee with a friend, it's the difference between a camera watching over you from afar and having a camera essentially in the middle of the conversation.

A pretty big difference if you ask me.

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