Forecasting in Innovation

In December 2005, it was discovered that the National Security Agency  (NSA) not only has been intercepting American’s phone calls and internet communications, but also had been receiving wholesale copies of our telephone and other communications records (Greene et al., n.d.). This has led to a culture of distrust by the American people, towards our intelligence and spy organizations and agencies. Recently, a new spy like technology has been invented that brings the idea of real-time monitoring and surveillance to a whole new era of possibility, referred to as Google Glass.

Google Glass is an augmented reality experience that is a wearable Android device that is voice and motion controlled. This technology is integrated into a pair of wearable eyeglasses that displays information to the users’ field of vision (Steele, 2019). Google Glass is not released to the public yet but could provide a wide variety of uses, for example, if a user is wearing them in an airport, it could display real-time flight and gate information, and so much more. This technology is based on a version of an Android and uses the Google Glass operating system (OS) that has built in virtualization tools called Glassware. These tools deliver built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, and a camera capability to the user (Steele, 2019).

"Every generation has been challenged by new powers of vision, memory, perspective, attention and reach," says Brin, the man who predicted Google Glass. Brin now feels that people will fear the new technology and its capabilities, and will fight against its release. He predicts that in 10 years, “Governments will be tempted to regulate Glass and similar spy-like technologies, but regulations won’t be able to keep up with these new technologies,” (Hu, 2013). He goes on to state that if the Government regulates this technology, it will no longer be available to the public and the rich and powerful will have a monopoly on snooping (Hu, 2013). What is the right way to navigate the future and these new technologies? Are we to embrace these new abilities with open arms, knowingly accepting the repercussions that these devices could introduce to us? Or do we regulate and fight to keep these new technologies out of the hands of criminals and other people who seek to use it for immoral and illegal purposes?

 

References

Greene, D., McKinney, I., & Reitman, R. (n.d.). NSA spying. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying.

Hu, E. (2013, July 11). The man who predicted Google Glass forecasts the near future. NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/07/10/200831790/david-brin-predicted-google-glass-predicts-future.

Steele, C. (2019, August 9). What is Google Glasses and its benefits. IoT Agenda. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/Google-Glass.