Interesting developments

New Scientist today carried the world-changing news that finally, researchers have managed to create a contact lens that is capable of displaying computer images. No wires, no strange boxes clamped to your head, no weird projection mechanisms, just computer-generated visuals being part of your field of vision as naturally as that tree over there.

Seamless integration of graphical displays into day to day reality has been a mainstay of science fiction for years (have a look at Venor Vinge’s “Rainbow’s End” and Charlie Stross’s “Accelerando”). It’s the last stepping stone before having virtual reality piped straight into your brain, and in many ways, it’s almost as revolutionary. The article mentions pilots, and simultaneous translation for foreign languages, but there is literally no end to the social and personal changes that this could bring about. It is, quite literally, a paradigm shifter. When this tech hits the streets, everything you think you know about society will be obsolete. And don’t even get me started on the sorts of games and wonders that it enables.

Augemented Reality by xmstellou

It’ll be several years before this is ready — given New Scientist’s usual place ahead of the curve, probably 4 or 5 — assuming that the military don’t decide they want the technology for themselves. That’s happened before with VR tech, when the US military shanghaied a system for projecting images onto the eyeball via laser, back in ’93. There’s also the chance of it just fizzling, too. The profits for the first company to bring this to market are going to be astronomical though, so there’ll be a lot of pressure to make it happen. If it does make it out, it’s going to be an exciting and unpredictable time to live in.

Wow.

Talking about mind-blowing, have you every heard of Exploding Head Syndrome? There you are, minding your own business, when WHAM! You hear a shockingly loud blast, and then everything goes white… and then you discover you’re still alive. Sounds utterly horrible and, offensively, it’s entirely real.