Today people can walk around while having the option to either be known or unknown to the world. You don’t have to worry about people knowing who you are, what your name is, where you work, or where you live, unless you want to give them that information. Babak Parviz, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington is currently working on a project to develop “new contact lens embedded with electronic circuits.” The idea of these lenses is better known as “Bionic” Contacts because it seems to resemble the robotic vision from the Sci-Fi movie Terminator. The first “Bionic” lens could be on the market in the next 10 years if Parviz and his assistants have a few major breakthroughs in the near future. Parviz states that the lens could be used to improve eyesight, monitor a persons health, receive visual driving directions, revive information on buildings such as history and dimensions, and one day have face recognition.
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| Photograph courtesy University of Washington |
This kind of new invention sounds amazing and the public would probably flip for it but that also means that some of our personal privacy could be gone within the next 20 to 30 years. Having the ability to know who you are talking to or passing by on the street may be helpful with contact lenses that have face recognition in specific situations. For example; if you are out and happen to meet a stranger it might be nice to know if they have a criminal record. Nevertheless just having instant access to a personas name could leave people more vulnerable than safe. As with all innovations, there are always going to be people who use it for good and those who choose to use it do harm.
Intrigued? If so take a look at these two videos.
How do you feel about a future where anyone could have a bionic eye on you?
Sources:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080129-bionic-eye.html