REading Response #1 -chapter 4

After reading this chapter my head is spinning. All of this talk of wearing a computer small enough to fit on our head, telling us pretty much everything we could need to know is overwhelming. The talk of "augmented reality" becoming a huge possibility in the near future scares me. Being able to mingle reality and virtual reality more so then we have already done seems unreal. To think that many of us let our cellphones and computers run of lives already leaves room for only my imagination of what our lives would be like having the internet work for us whenever we wear a headset. As quoted by the President of Bell Labs, " When your children become roughly your age...a mega networkof networks will enfold the entire earth like a communication skin. " Before you know it all little devices you are used to carrying around with you will likely be wearable.
Technology as advanced as this has to have a negative side. I feel as though all it will bring about is negative aspects of humans. Being able to click a button and have a comupter tell you what your looking at (like a post it note) is amazing no doubt, however I feel as though it leaves no work to the human what so ever. I understand we are living in a very fast paced world, but has it reached the point where we can't take the time to do anything for ourselves? I mean why read a book of information when you can click a button and get what you need? I feel as though people will become even more overly lazy then they already are. I mean if you don't want to go and pay your bill, jump online, if you dont want to go shopping, jump online....it's all right there while you sit in your pajamas at home.
When speaking of wearable computing Robinett says, " Roughly, it's making machines know who, what, where, when and why, so that devices that surround us respond more appropriately and helpful." This sounds all great to people right now. But what about out future generations? Will they even need a brain of their own? As quoted from Rheingold, Industry analysist Gartner Consulting predicts that 40% of adults and 75% of teenages will use wearable computing devices by 2010."
Now a days 2010 isn't to far away. Around then I plan on starting a family and being out of school. I'm not really sure if I want my kids to wear a computer 24/7. I mean firstly, I feel as though it leaves humans no room to find things out for themselves. On the other hand it's great to be able to find something with a remote in a couple of seconds. Knowing our generations and how much we just latch onto anything technological and become obssessive, it's almost like these wearable computers could control our lives. It could be as if we were actaully being controlled by a remote.
Also my other fear is out health. There are already links between cellphones and cancer. We don't keep those attached to our heads all the time ( well some people do now thanks to headsets), but what kind of risks will come out of wearing a computer on your head. What kind of effects will it have on our brain waves? It's a possibility that it becomes dangerous to one's health.
All in all it's great that we are making such advances in technology. I jsut feel as though we need to be careful how we use it, how often, and many other aspects need to be taken into consideration before we throw stuff onto the market.

Hello

Hi my name is Jessica Weise and I am a junior at Cortland in the speech pathology major. I am from Watertown, NY which is about an hour and a half north of Cortland. Yes, way up there in the snow belt. It's not a pleasant place to be during the winter. I enjoy playing and watching all kinds of sports. My favorite to watch is NCAA basketball. Can't get enough of it. That's just a little bit about me. Anyhow, I signed up for this course on a whim and honestly don't know much about the course or how to do much with blogging. So, hopefully there's more of you like that in this class.