Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Google Glass is causing a panic in some circles as wearable computing is considered by some to be a threat. We all missed the boat as wearable computing has been here for years in the form of hearing aids.

Google Glass is going to be the end of civilization as we know it.

Well, maybe that is a bit exaggerated. Let’s try this one:

Google Glass is going to be the end of privacy as we know it.

There is more truth to that one.

People fear other people wearing computers. I find some validity to that fear. Computers can be used to sense or monitor or used in surveillance of other people. Hence, we are not at ease when someone is in our presence wearing a computer.

Well, I hate to burst the bubble of civilization or public privacy or whatever we call it, but some among us have been wearing computers for years.

They call them hearing aids.

The computing power and algorithms embedded in hearing aids is amazing. Some hearing aid users wear a pendant around their neck, usually hidden under their shirts, that packs more compute power than an iPhone. The hearing aids can easily be reprogrammed to record everything that happens in a room. But:

Hearing aids don’t have cameras.

That seems to be the big deal. People are afraid of having their image recorded. People don’t seem to be afraid of having their speech recorded. Perhaps ignorance is bliss; perhaps their is a difference between imagery and sound. Perhaps we just haven’t thought about this.

After all, Google is famous. Who makes hearing aids anyway? Certainly not Google or Apple or anyone we should fear. Right?