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comment by AlderaanDuran
AlderaanDuran  ·  4300 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Who else here is legitimately excited about Google Glass?

I agree on a lot of what Fuffle said. It's just another Gizmo to filter life through, and I already feel like cell phones, Facebook, and Twitter are taking their toll on the younger generations and even mine to some extent. With Google Glass just taking that a step further to where you actually wear it, I just can't get excited about it. I just don't see what's so wrong with life now that people feel they need another gadget to "enhance it" or "make it better".

People already annoy me with how often they play with their cell phones in social situations or while standing in line at stores, or while driving, and I can tell you I'll immediately look down on people wearing Google Glass who are obviously paying more attention to their gizmo than the people around them (but most of us already do this with people and their cell phones they can't put down). And I already don't like the idea of people recording me or our interactions without my knowledge. I don't like the "ME ME ME ME" culture that has already been reinforced by Facebook, youtube, twitter e-lebrities, and the rise of smart phones role in this, and how a thing like "life casting" might actually come into existance with a product like this.

Sure, it might have some fun and interesting apps, and don't take my criticisms too negatively. I won't care if other people use them and hell I'd like to try it to see what it's all about, but I don't see myself owning one and I'm certainly not "excited" about it coming out. I had a flip phone until a year ago. I'm not big on "being connected", and prefer to be "disconnected". I sit infront of a computer all day and work and do IT stuff, so I'm not a fan of staring at another one in my free time, nor like the idea of actually wearing one and ALWAYS being connected.

I feel too many people spend too much on the computer, internet, playing games, tweeting, Facebooking, etc, and I see a new device that allows this that you actually wear only exacerbating the problems I have with that culture.

TL;DR: Not for me, not interested in the slightest. Worried about further negative social implications.





user-inactivated  ·  4300 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Obviously, I'm on your side of the spectrum. There's an interesting counterpoint to the first part of your second paragraph, though, in an interview with one of the Glass designers. Wish I could find/link to it, but I can't remember her name or where it was published. Anyhow, she was talking about the point at which she started thinking about Glass- she walked past a long line of people waiting for the bus or something, and saw them all with their faces pointed down, ignoring the world around them in favor of their smartphones. She decided she wanted to push for a smart system that encouraged you to interact with your surroundings via the interface rather than ignore your surroundings in favor of the interface.

So there's that. But still, I suspect it's just going to going to become another method of diluting/replacing reality rather than really augmenting it. Also, feels like it's just another logical step in a progression towards complete integration, where an interface is indiscernible from the body using it. Which I think a lot of people would think was really cool, but I find unsettling.

AlderaanDuran  ·  4300 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    She decided she wanted to push for a smart system that encouraged you to interact with your surroundings via the interface rather than ignore your surroundings in favor of the interface.

And I agree with that statement, it might turn out to be better than everyone staring at their phone, but they are still feeling the need to interact with their surroundings with a gizmo instead of their own body they already have. Talk to people, draw, read a book, etc. There are plenty of methods to interact with the world around you without some layer of technology. That's my view of that. So while it may be less intrusive, it's still a filter/layer of gadgetry in place of natural interaction. But whether it's a HUD like Glass, or a phone app you're looking at, it's still an app/gizmo distracting from what's REALLY going on.

    Also, feels like it's just another logical step in a progression towards complete integration, where an interface is indiscernible from the body using it. Which I think a lot of people would think was really cool, but I find unsettling.

I'm right there with you, that's a little unsettling to think about. The world around us is already beautiful and interesting enough for me, I don't need to enhance or augment it, if anything I find those augmentations and enhancements take away from the world around us an genuine human interaction for the sake of human interaction, not to analyze it, or put it on twitter, or interface with some social application via Glass.