One of the more intriguing trends in technology is augmented reality. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what augmented reality is, please view a recent post by Jeremiah Owyang - Three Future-Looking Videos of Augment Reality.
Let’s say you’re on vacation in a foreign country and you wanted to go sightseeing. While you may grab a map (a look like a complete tourist), in the future you’ll use your phone as a guide. What augmented reality will allow you to do is gather information about historic landmarks by simply pointing your phone toward a building.
With this continued advancement in technology and our continued evolution of a connected society, the biggest issue I see with AR - like social media - is privacy. We’re all exhibitionists and love to share information and broadcast ourselves to the public, but until now, we had control. Taking a look at the bigger picture, and not simply on social media, we’re at a crossroads with emerging technology. We must decide whether to relinquish complete control, or stifle innovation.
While the opportunities and potential for AR is endless, how much do we want to give up? How naked are you willing to get? How comfortable are you with having your daily movement tracked and publicized for anyone and everyone to see? There will obviously be checks and balances - maybe the option to opt out at any given moment (that raises another question regarding curtailing innovation), but are you willing and ready to give up control?
Personally, I love the potential of AR and am excited for the solutions it can provide. While there’s a lot more depth to the technicality and business-uses of AR, I want this post to simply open the discussion. Are you likely to participate or does the lack of privacy scare you off? Are the solutions and luxuries that AR will provide worth the cost of always being monitored?
Your thoughts?
