Well, it’s happening now. Tech giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook are busy at work developing new, advanced technology to finally merge human and machine. Their tests and research is focusing (non-exclusively of course) on the smartphone now being part of you. Imagine instead of staring at the small screen of your smartphone, you instead just look straight forward, as the images are beamed directly onto your eyes, like a projector in a lecture room. Sound a bit like the matrix?
This all seems fascinating, but my question/concern is the same one that pops up when we discuss cognitive computing and artificial intelligence: How far is too far?
Sure, it seems super cool and makes us feel like we’re in a movie, getting computer readouts beamed directly onto our eyeballs like we’re Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 10. But what does this mean for our freedom and independence from technology? We’re already addicted to our mobile devices, with the average adult spending over 4 hours a day on phone/social media (millennials can expect to be nearly double that). If they’re physically wired into us, how much worse will it get? How will people maintain focus on anything that is in front of them, when they have the entire world being beamed onto their eyes? How will it affect our friendships/relationships? How will we protect our privacy?
What data will the device collect on you? Your health? Your movements? Your conversations? And who will have access to this data? Our smartphones are already guilty of this. If you have “Hey Siri” activated on your iPhone, have a conversation with a friend one day and see an advertisement for a related product on Facebook the next day.
So again, how far is too far? You can’t stop progress. No one, not even the government can prevent new technologies from being invented, despite whether they’re good or bad. People and organizations will march on. So when this new technology is available, how will the public react? Who will adopt it?
I’ll end with a question: would you implant a chip or device into your brain, that would allow you to be connected to your smartphone (or computer) 24/7? Why or why not?
Source: https://www.businessinsider.nl/death-of-the-smartphone-and-what-comes-after-2017-3/?international=true&r=US