The Human Eye Webcam [video] | Hacker News Reader

The Human Eye Webcam [video]

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112 pointszdw52 comments

If we thought of cameras as human eyes and microphones as human ears then maybe we wouldn't be as comfortable with internet-enabled doorbell cams, or internet-enabled smart speakers in our homes, always watching, always listening.

Hmmmm so maybe one of these to go with the eye camera?

https://3diosound.com/products/free-space-binaural-microphon...

This image gives me some kind of knee-jerk reaction:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0995/9804/products/3Dio_FS...

It somehow says: how to dull your senses and use a gimmick to replace them.

Note: this product may be of use.. this is just my reflex on seeing this.

I think that guy is supposed to be recording binaural audio with the microphone and monitoring the levels with the headphones. Not using the mic to replace his senses.

The other commenter is likely right. My other comment was mostly a joke. Those mics are for recording binaural audio. Each ear has a directional mic that's positioned approximately the same distance as human ears apart.

Audio recorded using them will give a sense of 3d space that's supposed to mimic sound as heard by our ears when listened to in stereo.

I think they're mostly used for recording ASMR or VR content?

Though, I've always wondered if they might give a more live kind of sound if used to record acoustic music or something.

I'd like to share your optimism.

Not exactly human eyes, but putting googley eyes on robots[1][2] seems to have become one of the primary strategy to make scary machine robots feel more anthropomoric & non-hostile.

[1] https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/giant-grocery-s...

[2] https://www.fastcompany.com/90395110/how-googly-eyes-solved-...

Would you mind expanding on your thinking regarding the doorbell? Wouldn't that just be the same as hiring a doorman to stand outside? I don't find that thought particularly troubling.

I guess it depends where you live.

If you live in a quiet little cul-de-sac, where nothing ever happens, having somebody stand on your site reporting on your neighbours' movements might seem —to your neighbours— slightly invasive.

I'm not sure about other doorbell cameras, but the basic* Ring camera should only trigger the video recording on proximity detection, so that's like a very near-sighted doorman, who only notices the very nosy neighbors.

*I understand that some more expensive versions do take continuous low-energy recordings, and I do find that somewhat disturbing.

The part that particularly bothers me is the IoT nature of them. Even if they rely on proximity for automated events, you can manually watch and record at any time.

And no, that's not the same as looking out the window, because the S in IoT stands for security. As a neighbour to a fleet of crappy IoT cameras, I have no idea who's watching what I do I and around my house.

https://marcteyssier.com/projects/skin-on/

This is outstanding engineering but absolute nightmare fuel.

I think that's the point - we are surrounded by devices that are always watching and listening. If they looked like eyes and ears, maybe we would think twice about how and where we use them.

+1. There's some neat innovations here though - having the eye mimic the expression on the other side of the video stream, better tracking, extremely obvious on/off states. The eye-lid also might give the viewer a more immersive experience (movies sometimes use this effect and it works pretty well).

But the whole thing looks disturbing - if this was turned into a real product you'd probably want something more cartoony.

I'm reminded of the "eye statues" at the dungeon entrance of a Legend of Zelda game on Gameboy color:

https://www.purezc.net/Tiles/t1s1.gif

Or the LINC eye from Beneath a steel sky

http://selmiak.bplaced.net/games/pc/steelsky/27.png

To everyone saying it's creepy, they call it "design fiction" so I think that's the point. We really do have little eyes looking at us much of the time. If they actually looked like eyes or we at least thought of them that way, then maybe we'd think a little more about whether we really want them around.

Well, it's more than "fiction" -- the build files are on github!

https://marcteys.github.io/eyecam/

Precisely! Also, several other artists have explored this space. Golan Levin's Opto-Isolator comes to mind: https://vimeo.com/5145369 and also "double taker: snout" if you want to see this idea at scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjUwH9tOdus

Interesting, but geez, they really are going deep into the "uncanny valley" with that thing.

i thought April 1st was last week

From the title, I got excited thinking this had something to do with having a camera inside human eyes that would record everything one would see and even have options like taking a picture by blinking. I have thought of this a lot and I was pleasantly surprised someone really did start working on it, only to realize it was not that.

I hate this. I hate how it looks. I hate that it tracks me around the room.

I can't explain this hate. It's just my visceral reaction.

"it tracks me" is a symptom of a technological regime in which we have little control, in which we think of our devices as "it's", where we can not form a closer bond & begin to think of devices & technology as an extension of ourselves & our will.

devices have some other will, some other purpose, not quite our own, enscribed in them when they are delivered to us. i think that if we had a paradigm of computing where there were ambient neutral sensors peripherals & other capabilities around us, and we were permitted the role of orchestrator: i think that socio-techno-logical cultural be able to see something like this & be excited, be more able to welcome the technology in.

I think that's the point? It's not actually functionally any more threatening than an ordinary camera, and in fact it's more honest about its functionality. This should make us think twice about all the cameras in our daily lives. What if they all looked like this?

I wonder if it was made out of a fleshlight.

Speaking of which, are there good, reasonably priced PTZ cameras out there? I was thinking about trying to track "interesting" activity out my window, but last I looked I couldn't find anything hacker-friendly, not expensive, and likely to be supported under Linux.

I haven't tried it myself, but forums indicate you can get PTZ Foscams to work with Shinobi and other Linux-supporting OSS camera programs. They're <$100 on eBay depending on model.

Made me think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_Beholder_(video_gam...

Now there is a product looking for a market. I suppose people who like to be watched (exhibitionists)?

I take it your attention span is shorter than 2 minutes.

I first saw this on TikTok last year as a variety of human-looking body parts that move and blink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn5HAtc9qJ0

It's interesting to see other artists take a concept and run with it, extending it in new ways. Now it's cropping up everywhere.

This is going to be a fad for a bit.

One day, little kids will run up to you and try to press your moles.

I was kind of hoping it would be a contact that records video. Like a spy device or something.

Or the interceptor in one of the GotS:SAC episodes.

I don't think we are there yet technologically. The best we have are eye implants for the blind that give you a couple kilopixels at best. Power delivery and waste heat are major limitations.

If I remember right Google Glass was cancelled in part over the backlash from the privacy implications of this kind of thing.

Yeah true, I completely forgot about that angle. Google Glass was creepy and dumb, and some kind of eye contact camera would be worse.

Would it be even creepier if there were two eyes? Or better? I hope we never find out.

Not creepy at all... NOT.

But maybe that's the point. A webcam already can surveil like this.

I looked at the date instantly for April 1st, but nope, it is April 7th.

Good for Halloween maybe. The other 364 days of the year ... no thanks.

Is it that weird if I actually want one or maybe a pair?

Unbelievably creepy

Someone make a Furby based one.

Well, that dredges up some old nightmares.

i don't know about you, but i got crepped out.

sorry- that's just super creepy

You should watch the full video – that's the point.

nah man, nah

Creepy AF.

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