Most everyone's heard of Hololens by now, and many are hyped for the coming age of AR. Besides the obvious uses (cough cough, Pokemon Go) excitement is building for productivity applications in which AR will be able to put the information we need in front of us when we need it. Step by step instructions for delicate procedures, social networking or business profiles next to people whose faces we ought to remember but don't, the potential is limitless.
While the Hololens field of view disappoints (a paltry 45 degrees) upcoming competitors like Meta, Seer and Magic Leap boast much wider views on par with or exceeding those found in consumer VR headsets (though see-through of course). The technology really does seem to be close at hand. The question is, how can we use it to be more effective Steemers?
Geotagged photos pinned to the real world locations from which they were taken, with the amount of Steem they earned floating overhead? Restaurant ratings based on the number of favorable Steemit posts? Locations of nearby businesses which accept cryptocurrency payment, and which currencies?
Or, perhaps more controversial, being able to see in person who is a whale, dolphin or minnow. As our wallets are publically visible and our pictures would be searchable, then matchable to our faces, the day might arrive when your standing on Steemit affects how people see and interact with you in person.
Is this desirable? Right now we have no say in whether that information is publically visible. There would be nothing illegal about pinning it to our faces as seen through an AR headset. What about being able to see what topics someone else most frequently reads about and upvotes? Or what sort of posts they flag?
I don't mean to steer you in one direction or the other. For me it's an open question. Douglas Adams once said “I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
In keeping with that sentiment, while this seems like a strange and potentially unsettling future to age into, I'm keeping an open mind. No technology has ever consisted purely of upsides with no downsides. Ultimately what AR represents is increased availability of information, and more closely networking human minds.
When framed that way I can hardly consider it anything other than a positive development, though I will be paying closer attention to people wearing strange gear on their heads going forward. Who knows what they can see?