“A day in the future”: smart glasses making everything easier to do...

"A day in the future” is a series of posts about fictional and "mundane" conversations people will have in the future. The goal for me here is to present futurists day to day interactions from a human point of view.

But first, I want to share with you some information about today's subject.

Introduction

As in previous entries of "A day in the future", before sharing the story, it is important to provide some background information about the technology regarding this futuristic conversation.

The ability to see inside the human body is obviously of great help when determining the health state of any individual, which is why technology such as X-rays has been so broadly used in the medical field.

Even if we might think current gadgets are extremely sophisticated when we realize what they are capable of doing, that doesn’t mean they cannot be improved eventually in the future as the knowledge that drives innovation keeps getting more advanced.

When thinking about what technology I could share with you to use as the basis for the dialogue you will find further below, I found out there are better methods to observe inside the human body, in comparison to those that are commonly used today.

Within the electromagnetic spectrum, there is the Terahertz range as we can see in the image below.

^{From Wikipedia Commons under the public domain license}

According to some research papers, when it comes to cancer "... THz imaging technology diagnoses could occur much earlier then current technology allows. It could provide a multi-spectral 3D image of the tissue or living abnormal tissue. This would lead to a better understanding of diseases and how they spread". Source (document download)

This means that when this technology is fully mastered, it could become the most used method when doing medical imagining, which consists in "the visualization of body parts, tissues, or organs, for use in clinical diagnosis". | Source

As is the case with any breakthrough technology, at the beginning using it can be quite expensive, but with enough time it becomes much more affordable and that is where market adoption starts to increase at a rapid rate.

Another technology that could very well complement the use of medical imagining using terahertz waves is software capable of identifying patterns, or in the words of the people behind this particular software, “motion amplification”. In the video below, there is an explanation about the type of things this software can do, the video will start at the minute 3 with 16 seconds because there is when they mention something that is of interest in regards to this article, however, I would recommend to watch the complete video for anyone who wishes to learn more about this:

What this system does is show patterns that appear in the video but are imperceptible to us, amplifying them so that we can see them more clearly. This project is from the MIT and you can find further information by visiting their official website.

This has many uses, such as being able to monitor a baby with a normal video camera and notice with incredible accuracy the heartbeat and breathing rhythm of said baby (which would end most cases of the sudden infant death syndrome ).

If these 2 technologies could be combined in a single device, it could be considered as the ultimate gadget to be used by doctors. However, if we also add the possibility of seeing the 3D images captured thanks to the terahertz waves, through augmented reality, then this could very well be a worthy experience to have some day in a not so distant future.

Augmented reality is when through the use of special glasses or devices such as smartphones or tablets, 3D images are projected in the screen naturally blending with the environment as if they were real objects, taking into consideration the perspective and the constant movements we made. This technology is defined as:

An enhanced version of reality where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world environments are augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user's view of the real-world | Source

Below we can see a video showing a brief example of this technology:

Having said this, the following dialogue would take into account everything that has been mentioned so far.

I present you here, a conversation between a doctor called Jon and Harry the salesman from a medical company:

Harry: Today I promise you that you will not let me leave here without buying one of these!
Jon: The same old story, although I am amazed that you have decided to come up here in person instead of wanting to sell me this by just calling me as you usually do.
Harry: Well, the truth is this is something special, what I am going to show you today is something that can only be experienced in person. It can seem like a gadget from another world to anyone who is not up to the date with the latest innovations in this field.
Jon (rolling his eyes as if saying "okay, show me what you have so I do not keep wasting my time and get out of here"): All right Harry, let me see what you have because I'm very busy today…
Harry (taking something out of a small box): Here is the Glass-nosticate.
Jon: mmm glass what? What does it do?
Harry: This is a completely new technology that powers medical sensors to make the process of diagnosing a patient much more efficient.
Jon: Oh nice! That sounds good, and where is the device?
Harry: Here it is.
Jon: Where?
Harry: These glasses! This right here is the Glass-nosticate!
Jon: ok right, good joke and thanks for the visit, and tell the colleague who sent you that I am not in the mood for this type of jokes

Harry: But it's not a joke, it's serious! This is the latest gadget from our laboratories in cooperation with several of the most prestigious tech companies and universities in the world. It is revolutionary. They look like glasses, but they are a lot more than that.
Jon: I guess I have to keep listening to you for a few more minutes so I can understand this device...
Harry (half smiling): Yep.
Jon: Okay, can you explain me quickly so we can finish with this please? How do these glasses work then?
Harry: These glasses combine several of the gadgets that you already have, but in a much smaller size, and with new mechanisms and capabilities that you never had at your disposal before. These glasses use augmented reality capable of creating 3D images that seem to float in front of you.
Jon: Like those video games that my kids play all the time?
Harry: Exactly, but much, much sophisticated!
Jon: And what do I gain from that?
Harry: ok, as I was saying, these are augmented reality glasses, but on the other hand they also contain a range of sensors incorporated in such a way as to not disturb the looks of anyone wearing it.

These glasses can emit electromagnetic waves in the THz range that go through everything, and by combining this with ultrasound waves, and other sensors, this allows us to see directly within the human body and in real time. Then, it turns those images into 3D images so that you believe that you are literally seeing inside the other person when wearing these glasses.

Jon (intrigued): I don't know, that sounds very fantastic to me, can I try them?
Harry (with a huge smile): That's what I was expecting to hear... here you have, put them on...
Jon: Ok, I put them on and all I see is you in front of me...
Harry: Press the left side of the glasses with your hand, you will find a little switch in there.

At that moment, Jon jumped so hard that almost caused his glasses to fall off, and he remained with a surprised look, as if he were seeing a ghost.

Harry: Well?
Jon: … I cannot believe my eyes
Harry (making a "yes" gesture with his head and a proud smile): What did I tell you?
Jon: How much does this cost?
Harry: One moment my friend, we aren’t done with these glasses ... tell me what you are seeing to explain the other things that the Glass-nosticate can do.

Jon: Well, I don’t know how to explain it, but I'm seeing you as if you were transparent, and I see your skeleton as if you were a ghost or something like that.
Harry (still smiling): Now what I want is for you to put your attention on my wrist and say "focus on vein pattern".
Jon (without thinking twice and more excited than ever): focus on vein pattern!

What happened next was something like a miracle in happening right in front of Jon’s eyes, he took a couple of seconds to understand what was happening.

Harry: And?
Jon: I cannot believe it and I do not know how it is being done, but I am clearly seeing how the veins of your wrist seem to increase in size with each heartbeat, it is like if your arm were to explode but when I take off my glasses I see that it is not like that. It is as if this device modifies the reality of what I see so that I can detect the flow of blood in an easy and simple way... and now I even see a pulse counter with numbers that look like an animated tattoo in your wrist!
Harry: My dear friend, get your wallet ready, because there is more.
Jon: are there more features?

Harry (now with one arm embracing the doctor, as if they were drinking buddies): you are just testing the basic apps that come already installed in the Glass-nosticate. There is an App Store available to developers from all over the planet, who can use the numerous sensors to create all kinds of applications, including things that we can not imagine today.

For example, we have one that allows you to see cancer cells in real time, another that focuses only on the lungs, another only for the heart, the kidneys, as well as other organs. Another one even allows you to see a baby in the womb in real time. But one of my favorites is the one about the nervous system, because when you see the person through the Glass-nosticate it is like seeing someone made out of wires, quite cool indeed.

Jon: wow! Just tell me how much it costs? This is amazing.
Harry: Two thousand dollars ...
Jon: I want to order five of them. And I want you to leave this with me today.

Harry: Ahhh, I forgot to tell you something! One of the extensions we sell, for just a thousands dollars more, is one that allows you to coordinate what you are seeing with more than one person and even remotely over the Internet. So any person working with you can see the same thing, but each from their particular point of view. It's great because when you talk about what you see to another person who has another Glass-nosticate on, that other person will be experiencing the same thing.
Jon: You are an expert in always selling a little bit more... Add that feature to my bill please.
Harry: and what a coincidence! I just happen to have several glasses with me, and you can download that feature from the App Store, which I will show you how to manage right now as soon as the payment is ready.