LED displays in a contact lens

Scientists at University of Washington have embedded 8x8 LEDs into contact lenses, using micron sized circuits. The goal is to turn contacts into high resolution displays and allow us to see the world through an overlay of information - think "Terminator vision".

This development, when combined with other mobile gadgets, may change the way we think of both the real and the digital world - merging the two into what people call "augmented reality". Imagine traveling to another country and having a subtitle of the foreign language right under your eyes; or, gaining a birds-eye view of your surroundings when you are out hiking or directions while driving. What else would you do with that kind of ability?

(That is a rabbit eye)












There are still technical problems. The eye can't focus on light sources close to it; micro-lenses have to be placed between the eye and the LED so it doesn't look blurry. Another technique is to scan low-power lasers into the retina (like in Snow Crash) - lasers have better resolution, but they can't be made micro-scale yet. The LEDs get power wirelessly; they only require microwatts. They may even be powered by the ubiquitous wifi signal.

What people call augmented reality is actually a new kind of interface, one that allows us to pay attention to both our surroundings and the information. We'll no longer be forced to stare at glowing rectangles. The information becomes part of the environment. You can see a good example of it in the viral video What's In the Box.

The published paper from IEEE: Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens

Circular dreams

The future is approaching faster than ever, and it is accelerating. Fundamental changes in our culture and society happen four or five times in our lives. Even thirty-year youngs are feeling the strains; they are in danger of being left behind by the quickening pace of technology. Those of us who remember asking "why do I need a mobile phone" are now asking "why do I need Facebook on my smartphone".

Individuals are not the only ones being tested by the pace of technology. Companies, laws, policies, relationships, are all struggling to keep up, competing to stay afloat on the bubbling forefront of the new and the next. There will be conflicts, winners, and losers. We have seen the record industry clinging onto the ancient idea of CDs, and failing miserably. We have also seen companies like Amazon or Apple embrace new technology and drive it to enormous success. Countries and cultures can fall to similar fates. Our laws and our social expectations are even worse at keeping apace.

Most of us ride the current of developing technology without a sense of where it is going. We can only see backwards to the past, and look around at our present situation. Like passengers on a drifting ship, we like to imagine there is someone up there steering it through troubled waters. The truth is, there are very few people who can see those looming icebergs, and even fewer who have both the vision and the command to avoid them.

The risks and dangers that we face are immense. We have recently weathered one such technologically driven threat - global nuclear war, a war that could have ended humanity's very existence. That was our first trial, and we barely passed. Though we are pushing back the age-old problems of war, famine, and disease, new threats await us, enabled by the very technologies that can solve those problems. I do not want to a member of the first species ever to become extinct by its own hands. We must be ready.

Yet, the development of technology will not stop. If we try to hang on to outdated ideals, we will be left behind like the record industry, and become dangerously obsolete. If, instead, we take control and guide the development with knowledge and foresight, the benefits will be limitless.

The knowledge and vision should not be kept purely academic, nor be debated only by senators and judges and CEOs. We, as voters, as consumers, and as citizens, need to know. We can contribute our voices and our efforts to help shape the future we will live in. The first steps have already been taken: popular consumer products like Roomba and science fiction stories like Wall-E and Dollhouse help us become comfortable with new technology and challenge us to think about its implications.

But, the future should not be seen as pure speculation or science fiction. Our future is not just a fantasy; it is our own story, and we are both the authors and the characters. We, the people, in order to take hold of our shared destiny, must recognize our part in the circle between technology and humanity.

(Not so) Important realization

Historical persons are immortal until their date of death. They can't die before they're suppose to die!

A good primer for Singularity

This 20 minute talk from Ray Kurzweil should be enough to get anyone started on the subject of technological singularity and tranhumanism. Kurzweil is, as usual, persuasive and his vision is fascinating. Listening to him speak reminds me of Hari Seldon, from Asimov's Foundation books.

Devil's Advocate

Here's me debating with myself again:

The accelerating pace of improvement in computation, also known as Moore's Law, can not continue forever. There are fundamental limitations to how small we can make the circuits and still be able to disperse away heat.

The exponential curves that Kurzweil is so fond of are nothing more than the beginning of a logistic curve. Instead of accelerating into singularity, technological development will hit the inflection point at 2050 and slowly saturate until society and technology comes to an equilibrium.

Simply look at the development of railroads in the United States - there was an intense period of growth for railroad development, but today that has completely stopped.

And the rebuttal:

Moore's Law is a dead horse. Nobody says that the current silicon based photolithographic chips can be made faster exponentially (though it's been good to us for 20 years).

"Whenever a technology approaches some kind of a barrier, according to Kurzweil, a new technology will be invented to allow us to cross that barrier" These paradigm shifts has been happening for as long as people can remember - bronze to iron to steel, steam engine to diesel to gasoline to rocket and jet, etc. While we're not sure which technology will replace silicon, there are many plausible and hotly researched candidates: photonic, molecular, nanotubes, DNA and protein, quantum.

The saturation point has to do with economic and social carrying capacity - it boils down to the question, "When is enough enough?" This makes it obvious to me that the singularity will happen first in the United States. Americans are never satisfied with "enough". They always want more. There is very little profit in a saturated market - instead of stifling progress, the economy demands innovation.

The main obstacle remains: moral, ethical, and social pressures. Already there exists regulations against genetic research. You can be sure there will be more laws and regulations against genetic augmentation, against cybernetic augmentation, against robots, against AI, etc. People are jealous of things they don't understand or don't want to understand. These attitudes will limit progress to baby-steps (see Asimo, Roomba, etc warming the public up to the idea of friendly robots).

Freak

I have these two long arms that hang by my sides. Each one has five wriggly appendages on the end. And I have over a hundred thousand thin black strands on top of my head, and every day they get a little bit longer. There are two pits in the middle of my face with round squishy balls lodged inside, and if you stare too long at them I guarantee you'll get creeped out. I also like to sit for hours and hours in front of a glowing rectangle, like I'm in a trance. Sometimes, I put pieces of dead animals inside my mouth. That's one of my favorite things, actually. Pieces of dead animals. I also cover myself with pieces of cloth because I don't want the world to see what a freak I am.

Please don't judge me.

Wish Upon a Star

The star Betelgeuse, resting on the shoulder of the Orion constellation, is a red supergiant, and one of the largest and brightest stars in the sky. In the last decade, scientists have observed it shrinking at an increasing rate - shedding about 15% of its size. At its core, carbon and neon and oxygen are breaking apart and fusing into heavier elements. At its surface, plasma and hot gas boil and bubble and large plumes eject into space.

The sudden change may be a harbinger of the end of its life cycle - the old star will go supernova within the next one thousand years, and its core may collapse into a black hole. On Earth, this event will be brighter than the moon and be visible during the day.

I want to be there, to witness the death of a star.

I wish I may, I wish I might...