#153 / All Ears

The "Internet of Eyes" may soon be here, as discussed in this Two Worlds blog yesterday. And we can plug tech, if we want to, right into our ears, too, as Jon Li notes in his article, "What if the Future of Technology is in Your Ear?" 

Li is "a serial entrepreneur," and he suggests that we might want to replace our biologically determined human hearing with in-ear technology that will change the way we relate to the world around us:

An in-ear smart device can be more intimate than a phone or smartwatch. The device lends itself to a new relationship ... to information and the people or bots delivering the information. Over time, I found myself to be more “in my head” while wearing the device, thinking or having discussions with myself (or a bot) even when nothing was playing. At times this new intimacy was isolating, both from my surroundings and my activities. I eventually removed the device while cycling, grocery shopping, or meeting people because I simply could not focus on what was in front of me without being aware of the device.

Life used to be experienced, and even "defined," by focusing on what is right in front of us. Technology is now offering us the opportunity to have our attention directed from elsewhere, from devices and systems of human creation. Increasingly, technology seems to be seeking to replace the Natural World with the world that we create, but if we don't focus our attention on the Natural World, that world that is "right in front of us," we are likely to find that we have missed out on Life itself.

Image Credit:

https://backchannel.com/the-future-of-technology-is-in-your-ear-8c276b810413#.sgzy94t3a