Google Announces Project Glass

> How many people can you convince to wear glasses that do not normally?

It's fashionable (on the wane) at the moment. Lots of people are wearing frames with plain glass lenses.

> What about sun glasses? Will I need two pair of Googgles (2)? One for day, one for night?

The article covers this point - there will be a version that fits on existing glasses.

> Do you really think young women (or men) are going to wear these things?

Define young, and who cares? People with the money would, if there was a use. Link these to certain professions and I could see people deliberately, just as annoying students wear their lab coats out of the labs.

Daydreaming and "wasting time" are correlated with creativity and insight. There is a tendency these days to trivialize the mind by being permanently preoccupied with little things, like checking the news, checking the social network, checking the email - things that require a narrow, restricted perspective and effectively kill wider thoughts.

This is akin to eating junk food. There is an innate tendency in us to consume this sort of garbage (burgers, email updates), and it seems nourishing and useful in the short term, but over a longer range it may well prove disastrous.

Just like we learned to keep our instincts in check and avoid junk food, we may have to learn to keep the trivia-hungry part of our brains in a leash, and once in a while, or perhaps several times a day, purposefully unplug from the data hive and let the mind soar, roam, wander, or whatever it is that it wants to do.

So, I'd say, the answer is "no", you're not a Luddite, you're pointing out an important issue.

We're living in the future now.

iZ

Personally I'm holding out hope that Google collectively has enough sense not to torpedo this exciting new technology by turning it into a wearable AR billboard system. While I could totally see voluntary opt-in for merchant ad displays while walking around in downtown, I'm pretty sure it would have to be voluntary.

I'm optimistic that Google realizes they aren't going to be able to get away with anything more invasive than what's considered "acceptable" behavior for a smartphone. Example: I don't have merchants sending me unsolicited SMS whenever I'm within 200 yards of their storefront.