Smart Glasses Anyone?
Which camp are you in?
Love them? Hate them? Meh?
If you know me, you know I’ve always been an early adopter of cutting-edge, cool, and useful tech!
For example, I’ve bought the first-generation Ray-Ban Meta on its day-one release and used it almost daily since.
I loved it so much, I even upgraded to the 2nd version, and I don’t even need glasses!
I always tell people these smart glasses are among my favorite recent technology purchases. They still are!
Like many people, I’ve predicted long ago that smart glasses will be mainstream.
When? I tagged the date that by 2029, billions of people worldwide will be donning them.
Looking at the trends now, my estimate might even be a bit conservative.
Predictions are fun to make, even if you end up wrong half the time.
BUT — As much as I love my current smart glasses, augmented reality (AR) is where the future is! (Check out Project Orion and Project Astra)
BUT — We need to be cautious with any new tech, especially with the disruptive ones. *eyeing AI* 👀
I am a tech lover & enthusiast, but I am also pro-regulation when it comes to tech.
Now, I don’t want silly laws to slow or stymie progress, but I’m a firm believer in taking a human-first approach to tech.
We, as a society, need proper regulation in place, especially for PRIVACY and SAFETY.
Privacy.
This is a given.
Everyone has personal boundaries and thresholds to privacy, and everyone is entitled to them.*
I’ve had to personally take off and pocket my smart glasses for someone who had zero trust in Meta.
He believed Meta is Always On, Always Listening, and Always Recording.
Last I checked, he had a smartphone. 😅
In his own words: “Meta is evil.”
I didn’t argue. I didn’t debate… much.
He speaks some truth, and he speaks his truth.
It wasn’t my truth, and that’s OK.
We can still be friends. We’re still friends.
Birds of different feathers can still flock together.
So I put my smart glasses away and was happy to respectfully oblige.
Safety.This is a must.
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes […].
Practical. It’s not practical for humanity if it’s not safe.
Case in point…
Imagine if the newest versions of smart glasses become mainstream.
Imagine if there are AR displays on them.
We don’t need to grab our smartphones to check our email, messages, or notifications!
Us doom scrollers don’t need to look down on our phones to watch our Instagram Reels & YouTube shorts!
How useful and awesome would that be?
…
..
.
Now imagine people wearing these glasses while driving.
Hell to the NO. I’m genuinely frightened of this future.
My guess is that autonomous vehicles (Level 4) will have to be somewhat mainstream before we can safely accept smart glasses with AR tech as a society.
Smart Glasses is one of our exciting futures.
I’m optimistic, but not naive.
I know it’s important to stay cautiously optimistic.
It’s crucial for us to put the proper safeguards, boundaries, and laws in place in our society.
We need to make sure we respect privacy
and prioritize safety, among many other things.
We need to be smart before we adopt anything too smart.
So if you ask me, yes, I’m personally excited for this future.
I know that most of the tech is already out there.
I also know that most of the big tech companies are closely watching societal trends, laws, and norms.
They’re doing a phased and incremental rollout.
That’s the smart and responsible business thing to do.
Timing is huge.
Sometimes, society just needs to be ready for the right technology. RIP: Google Glasses & Glassholes 😂
Yet sometimes, some people and companies just open a can of worms and rip open Pandora’s Box.
As we can see, all heaven and hell is breaking loose.
If you know, you know.
But that’s a discussion for another day!
What are YOUR thoughts?
