Through the Glass, Lightly [Viewpoint]

I begin this article with the fundamental premise that wearable computing will fundamentally improve the quality of our lives [1]. I can make this claim because for the past 20 years I have been walking around with digital eye glasses (DEG), and I believe my life has been enhanced as a result. Perhaps I am biased about wearable computing, but like my EyeTap invention that computationally processes everything I see, I try to tell it like it is. I am of course, only a one person case study, but I know there are others out there who feel the same way as I do, and perhaps for very different reasons. It is well known that when traditional optical eyeglasses were first invented, many wearers of these eyeglasses were treated poorly and discriminated against. But as time went on, society began to accept eyeglasses, even to the point where they have, in some instances, become fashion statements. Many people, who have no need for spectacles, will purchase zero prescription eyeglasses just to look smart. This says a lot about technological innovation and how society responds to it over generations of varying levels of acceptance.