Google Glass: Everyone Will Know Everything About You Thanks To Everyone Else!
Ever since its introduction, Google Glass has been the center of controversy as well as technological intrigue. Created by the powerhouse company Google and developed by Foxconn, the glasses would be the next innovation that may become the next trend once all the social fears come to pass. But is Google Glass a piece of technology worth having in our society? The concept behind Google Glass seems to be worthwhile on the outside, but it may also have its intentions rooted in something Albert Einstein once said:
“It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity.”
For those who don’t know what Google Glass really is, according to the numerous sourced (some sources may vary) details on Wikipedia, it is a wearable computer with a optimal head-mounted display. Its sole purpose is to be a mass market ubiquitous computer. It displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format. Wearers can also communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands.
The description for Google Glass alone just sounds like the latest trend item worth owning for the current duplex of years. At one time, it was Walkmans. At another time, it was portable compact disc players. Then came cell phones, then iPhones, then tablets.
However, for those who understand what the high-tech lingo translates to, Google Glass is a portable personal computer glasses with visual and voice recognition technology and advanced GPS. A lot of these glasses can utilize RFIDs (the technology used for tollbooth passes) and even smartcard circuitry. Didn’t Perry Stone, Bill Cloud, and other prominent End Timers refer all those forms of technology to be implemented into an implantable chip for the “Mark of the Beast”?
The prominent scenario given is by Mark Dice. Google Glass is an Orwellian future technology of facial and voice recognition and positional tracking. Facebook already has facial recognition but it is mostly used for picture tagging. Now imagine a person with Google Glass being able to obtain all the information to control a person’s life just by looking at them. This is what Mark Dice fears Google Glass will be used for in our society. That is why he tells everyone to stand up now or forever lose their privacy.
Fortunately, some places are taking a stand against Google Glass. According to Search Engine Journal, ten places where Google Glass is already banned includes the following:
- Banks/ATMs
- Sports Arenas/Concert Venues
- Locker Rooms/Dressing Rooms
- Movie Theaters
- Cars
- Hospitals
- Classrooms
- Strip Clubs
- Casinos
- Bars
From the above, it seems that Google Glass is about ready to die even before it has started. But what if Google Glass is promoted to be something mainstream, cool, hip with the younger crowd, or even necessary? If that is the case, then Google Glass may have become the Orwellian gadget that will register every face, every voice, and every location everyone has ever been because everybody else will allow it…especially if it is popular. People will find it cool to be tagged by complete strangers. People may find it cool to be constantly tracked by GPS (which is already done with smartphones technically).
What would be a worst-case scenario is making Google Glass necessary — as in, people need Google Glass for it will replace paper cash and plastic cards. Or Google Glass is a means of storing one’s info all within the technology for easy access of important matters, such as doctor visits or money loans.
And if Google Glass isn’t someone’s preferred technological toy of choice, Tech Radar has listed ten Google Glass alternatives available on the market right now. It may even become more of a fad since the upcoming 3G versions can be made by prominent glasses makers such as Ray Ban, Luxottica, and Oakley.
In the end, people will eventually go with Google Glass all for security, which means surrendering privacy and liberty. Pertaining to this mindset, Benjamin Franklin said it best:
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
[Images via Bing and Mark Dice’s Facebook page]
