Smart Contact Lenses

[Celestia]

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/180571-google-invents-smart-contact-lens-with-built-in-camera-superhuman-terminator-like-vision-here-we-come

 

Google has been working on this project for a while. A contact lense that would assist not only visually disabled people and diabetics but would also have camera capabilities. Would you use such a contact? All my life I have thought, "I wish I could take a picture right this second!" and not been equipped. Do you think there could be any moral dilemmas with something like this?

Edited May 5, 2014 by Celestia

[PiSquare]

I am not (yet) sure on how to respond to your moral issues question, Celestia, as I am still pondering on the ethics of some of the latest technologies. But I am not at all surprised about Google coming up with an invention such as this one. It is simply a 'smaller' version of the Google Glasses already in circulation, albeit still in a trial run phase. 

[RainMan]

If it ever gets out of the lab into the market, it should be sold only to the visually impaired. The privacy of other people would be a great risk if just anyone could have them simply because of the camera feature. 

[arissa]

I can not handle contacts, I have tried before and we just don't mix. I only wear glasses now when I am driving even though I am not required to, it makes things easier for me especially when I need to drive somewhere I have never been. Being nearsighted is a pain and I am really considering getting Lasik.

[Elisa]

This is such a cool idea!! I would love to be able to have control over taking a photograph in the moment! Not to mention the possible ramifications to help people who have visual disabilities of any kind. I think it's a great thing!

[arissa]

It is a cool idea and Google is always in the news but how exactly would that work? I like the idea of helping those with visual issues too, and I know about four people that could benefit from it but at the same time it makes me wonder how it will work when you go to take a picture. We already have a lot of sync issues when it comes to smartphones, how would this be different?

[smalfry]

Oh this is a tough one. You would never know if someone was taking a picture of you. Our privacy will be gone. I think the idea is a cool one but I don't know how I feel about it morally. There are a lot of sick individuals out there. I can see them buying these and wearing them for the wrong reasons.

[PiSquare]

I am with you on this one, arissa. I tried wearing contact lenses (various types), but my eyes seem to reject these 'foreign objects'. I guess I will have to revert to Google Glasses if I want to take photos in the moment.

 

But I agree with RainMan, I am seriously concerned about the right to privacy with all the new technologies where others might not even be aware that their rights are violated. 

[Buffy]

The right-to-privacy is a major issue. Its under attack everywhere these days. The main battles against this are in places with strict privacy rules like California--where "Glassholes" are already being made to feel unwelcome in many places--and in Europe--where Germany just told Google that they have to remove any search result an individual thinks invades their privacy. The crux of these rules are to not just prevent the taking of such images/videos, but to require they be destroyed if they are taken surreptitiously, which makes them fairly strong, although your behavior in "public" can still be fair game. The whole notion of "camera in a contact lens" makes detection of the taking of images/videos difficult, although I imagine in the first few years of implementation they'll be just as noticeable as Google Glass.

 

To the extent that any of this makes people behave better in public, there's at least a silver lining, but I still don't like it.

 

 

Once you've lost your privacy, you realize you've lost an extremely valuable thing, :phones:

Buffy

[Eclogite]

 Our privacy will be gone.

It is nice to get the occassional post from the 1970s. I can still just about rememeber those times when we thought we still had privacy.

[PiSquare]

It is nice to get the occassional post from the 1970s. I can still just about rememeber those times when we thought we still had privacy.

 

I remember how we were mesmerized by futuristic movies in the 1970. Today, most of the 'far fetched' technologies are fast becoming a reality... and gone is the magic of it all. Instead, we are deeply concerned about the abuse of technology and how it invades our privacy. I really wonder what earth will look like in another forty years (if we have not been wiped out by our own technological and biochemical creations).