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Comment by Freak_NL | Hacker News Reader

Smart Glasses 2: Revenge of the Glassholes

Will it take off as a general consumer product this time? Probably, for some (unfortunately).

It will create a whole new class of distracted people in traffic, that's for sure. Someone lost in a smartphone screen is at least visually recognisable (“Better look out for that smombie about to cross…”), but someone dutifully following Google Maps directions on one of these could actually look like they are aware of their surroundings, whilst their full attention is fixed on the little map widget.

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I think the problem here is traffic and cars. Seems crazy to think that it’s normalised to be in alert mode 100% of the time when out of your home because of cars. Every corner, every cross, I need to stop and double check for cars otherwise my life could end.

I'm really not looking forward to (pure) humans assaulting cyborgs again.

> No shirt. No shoes. No augmented reality glasses. No service. Earlier this month, human cyborg and University of Toronto Professor Steve Mann, claims he was brutalized and kicked out of a Paris McDonald’s after employees objected to his headset and its ability to record photos and videos of his experiences.

> [snip]

> To draw attention to his plight, on July 16th Mann posted an account of the alleged assault on blogspot, causing an international uproar. The incident has so far been covered by more than three dozen major news outlets, including Tech Crunch, Forbes, Mashable and The Verge. A group on Reddit had more than 2,000 comments as of this writing. Sci-fi blog io9 even described the alleged attack as "the world’s first cybernetic hate crime."

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cyborg-steve-mann-det...

I am curious, do you have the same anxieties about car drivers using maps applications to navigate?

Maps not so much, but the people actively watching TikTok or whatever while driving, yes

What about people actively listning to podcasts?

Whatabout talking to a passenger? Looking at and touching a screen is significantly more distracting than listening to a podcast.

If road conditions become intense, then passengers will notice, and stop talking to let the driver focus. People on the other end of a speaker phone can't see the road, so will continue blabbing. (Or even try to regain the driver's attention. "Why aren't you responding?") I'm not sure if podcasts are as distracting as someone on a speaker phone, but they similarly don't adapt to the road conditions.

If they're listening to the instructions, nope. If they are interacting with the display and focussing on the mini map, yes.

Not anxiety by the way, just a healthy amount of distrust.

I'm kind of anxious about checking the map when I'm riding a motorcycle in traffic. You can get away with much lower situational awareness in a car simply because you're far more predictable and not invisible.

Speaking of which... I'm still waiting for a bike helmet with a back-facing camera/HUD that is neither vaporware nor "smart" (read vendor-dependent and barely working), and doesn't suffer from basic usability mistakes. That would be infinitely more useful and probably easier to make than this.

Is that much different from people lost in their thoughts or focusing on their podcast ?

As you point out, distracted people already exist, and new classes of them will appear every day. The problem exists and I don't want to minimize it, but from a driver's perspective the difference sounds minimal, and doesn't affect how you'll handle the situation (someone looking aware might not actually be)

This is not comparable to your two examples which are passive, the new device requires active partisipation will be additionaly distracting in that there will be all of the "gotchas" of modern UI design demanding "engagement". Face it, this is an attempt to have everything a person sees and hears projected by a corporate entity....."real time threat awareness" and instant sales opotunintues, just look at anything and find out "how much™", .....offer price determined by pulse, pupil dialation, previous comments,buying power and purchases. good times

I'd somewhat love to hear your thoughts on this crossing at one of the most busy crossing of Tokyo

https://youtube.com/shorts/TvL2SR33XEA?si=F_fnbcvRGrizZ0rQ

The shibuya crossing also has at least 2 giant screens, with sound, and have been there for decades now. All of them have camera, and they probably have been checking the effect of each of the ads since the screens have been setup.

There's a lot to discuss I think.

Any ppl never bump into eachother there ;)

as to the "shibuya" crossing , ya whatever, take it as a given that I have been to many different crossings in big citys and other places...not on any maps the comanality is to create an almost overwhelming spectacle and engage people in such a way that they open up there wallets.... the internet (phones, now "specs") as an always on jittering, jiggling, flashing, binging,bonginging, personal , tic tock, shake down street, is though floundering a bit, as we are all now a bit world weary, short on time, and utterly lacking in a home to go back too and tell our tails of the big city and flashing lights, gaining our own brief spot, at the center of things. yes?, no? just check out the fearsom demand for add blockers, calm down and sleep meds, burn out stories, etc, etc ,etc or ,the very deep sigh when someone I am doing a deal with was commenting on all of the financial shenanigans going on vs/vs trade, tarrifs, and all that, and I said yes....but maybe we will slow down and have a more circular economy, and live better....

You're right, it's not much different at all. People have been walking around with headphones for decades, and the same prejudice existed early on when Bluetooth headsets were all the rage. XR glasses simply expand this to another sense.

Can it arguably be more dangerous? Sure. But we'll come up with more technology and regulation to minimize the dangers. And the prejudice will eventually go away as well.

As much as I think that everyone walking around with these things is unsettling in a dystopian way, transhumanism is inevitable, and this is just another step in that direction.

> It will create a whole new class of distracted people in traffic, that's for sure.

Yes. Transparent glasses are much worse than looking down on your phone.

It took exactly one post for this term to come back. The word was invented by apple PR to ensure that this product didnt take off. Here it is again.

And it will haunt the Apple efforts to get these worn advertising screens into the market as well.

Good.

Why would one pay for the privilege to have everything they see overlayed with advertisements and every micro-expression analyzed for even better ad targeting?

I wouldn’t use a smartphone (or a browser on my computer for that matter) if it weren’t routed through my private DNS blocking advertising and tracking.

Whenever I see how the internet looks like for normal people, I shudder in horror.

Why one would pay for such a privilege? Because it's the latest new gadget and it's very convenient and its users don't experience any immediate negatives of using it. That's how people will happily let you get away with (digital) murder.

It's more interesting that somehow it didn't appear with Meta camera glasses which are very popular.

Meta is fine with HN crowd it seems?

Apple didn't consider them competition, thats my bet.

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