if you wear google's new glasses you are an asshole

[bcbm]

http://gawker.com/5990395/if-you-wear-googles-new-glasses-you-are-an-asshole

[Os Cangaceiros]

Google's aborted project (http://chronicle.com/article/Publishers-Settle-Long-Running/134854/) to scan and upload all books in existence to the internet without the publishers' permission? Asshole behavior.

that sounds pretty cool actually.

[bcbm]

though i doubt their intention was philanthropic

[Arakir]

Uploading all books in existence to the internet isn't asshole behavior at all. I don't see how providing the masses with information and knowledge is in any way being an asshole.

[Decommissioner]

I'd have to agree, while google glass may be neat to try as a novelty, I really can't see how anyone can feel comfortable talking to someone wearing it, or even just wearing them without feeling like a doofus. When in social settings, it is necessary to put away the phone, break off from the internet, and actually interact with people. It's okay to use the phone as a utility in conversation, say to look up a fact or something, but if everyone is just staring at their screens than they cease to actually be socializing. Google glass basically just tethers you to the internet at all moments, right in your face distracting you from the things happening in front of you.

It doesn't seem practical to me, in a situation where I'm by myself I can use my phone, and in a social situation I wont feel the need to use it.

Google glass also raises privacy concerns, and I am all for establishments banning their use if they see fit. I don't necessarily like the idea of someone being able to record everything you do merely by looking at you, and having software that can recognize you. At least with a smartphone it is obvious when someone tries to snap a picture and film you, and that risk of getting caught deters people from making attempts usually.

But, unfortunately, once the genie's out of the bottle there's no turning back. Just one step closer to the inevitable singularity I suppose.

[ckaihatsu]

On a tangent here, you may have inadvertently forced the question of technological determination:





When in social settings, it is necessary to put away the phone, break off from the internet, and actually interact with people.




But, unfortunately, once the genie's out of the bottle there's no turning back. Just one step closer to the inevitable singularity I suppose.


Using this latest tech device as a case study, which is it, then -- do we prioritize our social respect for each other, or do we yield to fatalism and passively accept the logical outcome of a runaway technological determinism -- ?

[Decommissioner]

On a tangent here, you may have inadvertently forced the question of technological determination:







Using this latest tech device as a case study, which is it, then -- do we prioritize our social respect for each other, or do we yield to fatalism and passively accept the logical outcome of a runaway technological determinism -- ?

I often feel in these cases the choice really isn't up to us, as individuals, groups or even governments. I feel once something like this is made possible, it's proliferation is inevitable. We as a society can't unlearn the technological advances and the uses they can bring (for good or harm), and things like social stigma and laws only slow the tide. I have a feeling google glass may do bad, but only because it isn't refined. When this technology is in all glasses, perfectly discreet, or even in contact lenses, it will probably take off.

[ckaihatsu]

I often feel in these cases the choice really isn't up to us, as individuals, groups or even governments. I feel once something like this is made possible, it's proliferation is inevitable. We as a society can't unlearn the technological advances and the uses they can bring (for good or harm), and things like social stigma and laws only slow the tide. I have a feeling google glass may do bad, but only because it isn't refined. When this technology is in all glasses, perfectly discreet, or even in contact lenses, it will probably take off.


Well you've made your choice, then, and I'll argue that this oh-well attitude does more harm than the petty social transgressors who may be called 'assholes'.

I'll also point out that your take is not supportable from a revolutionary standpoint since our politics do *not* yield to a historical concept of technological determinism.


[1] History, Macro Micro -- Precision

http://s6.postimage.org/zbpxjshkd/1_History_Macro_Micro_Precision.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/zbpxjshkd/)


For example, even the international proliferation of nuclear weaponry has not brought about its technological logical outcome -- a nuke in every garage, much less all-out nuclear warfare and global annihilation.

[Orange Juche]

Google glass also raises privacy concerns, and I am all for establishments banning their use if they see fit.

I think some places already have, and the crappy things aren't even out.

[Rugged Collectivist]

The author's condemnations seem hypocritical. He defines an asshole as "A person who demands that all social interaction happen on their terms.". Isn't he guilty of this if he demands that people take off their glass to engage with him?

These things would be pretty cool if they took the cameras out.