Synthesis:
Although, the process has not quiet gotten there just yet, lab tests have shown that there was no harm from the contacts (while the digital parts were off) on the eyes of the lab test subjects (rabbits). These contacts could be a break through in Information Technology and even the ways humans interact with each other and the world around them. The Area’s of Impact they would affect would be Health (in Business and actual Physical Health improvements), Education, and Entertainment (possibly), and Politics/Government (Militia). These contact lenses could make millions, and also save millions (humans; what with the chemical sensors). Also, seeing the world in a new Bionic way would change the way one teaches and learns. And, if they are successful in implementing access to Internet and Television in the lenses, then it would for sure be an impact on Education (more distractions in school) as well as Entertainment (change the way Entertainment is advertised and used). . . Sounds too good to be true, huh? The only problem is the safety level of the device and the affects that it would have on its wearer, but research teams are 
working on that consistently, in order to make this fantasy a reality.
SEI Analysis
The Social and Ethical Issues that these contacts would bring are Equality of Access, Security (and Privacy) and People and Machines (and Reliability).
The problems presented for Equality of Access is that these contacts will make even more visible who can afford them and who cannot. The people who are able to afford such luxuries would have a noticeable advantage over those who cannot... Especially if these contacts have the ability to let one communicate with others without vocally speaking to each other, and the use of cell phones. Although access to communication would be easier and possibly faster, this would lead to fewer opportunities to the lower class. An example of this is that many Employers like to have instant communications with their employee’s; the new digital contacts would be the new cell phone. Hence, one may not be able to get a job just because they would not have these new Digital contact lenses. And, who is to say that computers will still be very popular and accessible to the public once these devices are out and about? If these contacts have the ability that many hope for them, then the use of the basic computer will be less and less, until no one needs them at all. How will those who cannot afford the lenses, and do not have access to computers, be able to successfully finish their education (which uses more and more technology as the years go by)? Lets also not forget people who would need these contacts for health and medical reasons, if one is in need of them (which could potentially save their lives) and one does not have equality of access to them, then that individual’s situation could have been improved, but was simply not because they were not rich enough. . . Hmm, that already is starting to sound familiar. . .
One of Security issue’s would be if the technology got into the wrong hands, especially if they are able to reverse engineer it, and make masses of them for them selves and use the advantages in ways that could harm other people’s lives and well being. Not only that but, if they could reverse engineer it, then they could also find a way to access the health and medical records recorded on the contact lenses themselves. This would also be a Privacy issue as well as a S
ecurity Issue, for they could do what they want with the records, including setting up false health records in order to assassinate some one. People would be mis-diagnosed, and given the wrong treatments for the health problem that they would not have. Also they could make false records to cover up murders (or set up murders to get the people they want in jail), or they could just simply commit Identity Theft. All of this would lead to false accusations, Social havoc, and the Health/Medicine fields and records would all be mixed up. The Security of these contacts would be one of the flaws in this device, for even with proper Security measures, there will always be that some one who can crack the code, or find a loop hole around it. We must not assume that every thing will be just “fine” and expect that nothing bad will happen.
A problem with People and Machines (and Reliability) would be if Humans became to co-dependent on these contact lenses to know every thing about their health, and to warn them about too high blood sugars (for example). What if these contacts suddenly broke down? Then where would we technology dependent humans be? We would be clueless on what to do, that’s what! Not to mention if our eyes had become so dependent on these contact lenses that they actually became weaker because of them… The technology itself could weaken our eyes (over a period of time), especially since the gadget would emit some amount of heat when working, doing damage to our retinas’. It all depends upon the type of materials the contacts would be made out of, and if they leave some kind of toxic waste. Dependency on these contacts would be a big problem, for the moment we depend and rely too much on them will be the moment we will have a hard time living without them. That is when the reliability of the device becomes a part of the equation, for we all know that things break down no matter how awesomely efficient, or ‘unbreakable’ it was made to be. The job related problems also come into play with People and Machines, for soon, people with these digital contacts might be preferred to be hired as an employer, rather than some one who does not use the digital eye contacts.
Cited References:
1. Chen, Brian X. "Digital Contacts Will Keep an Eye on Vital Signs." Wired. N.p., 10 Sep. 2009. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.
2. Moskowitz, Clara. "New Contact Lenses Go Bionic." Live Science. TechMediaNetwork, 18 Jan. 2008. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
3. Britt, Robert R. "Contact Lenses to Double as T.V.'s." Live Science. N.p., 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
4. Hickey, Hannah. "Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision."
5. Greene, Kate. "How to Build a Bionic Eye." Technology Review. Technology Review, 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
Interesting perspective on how this scientific advancment could negatively effect an individual's private information.
ReplyDeleteHeat damage to the retina makes complete sense. I wonder how this issue will be overcome?
I believe that you did a very good job with the synthesis and SEI’s. The pictures were a fantastic addition and you hit in all the vital points, but there is one thing that I just don’t get. When you say “..They could do what they want with the records, including setting up false health records in order to assassinate some one.” How is that so? By having someone’s health records and setting up false health records you can get that person assassinated?! What!? Do explain. By “assassinate” I’m assuming you mean to kill; take ones life. If that is so, then please explain how that can be. And when you say, “Also they could make false records to cover up murders (or set up murders to get the people they want in jail)---- All this can be done with contact lenses? If so, then that’s some pretty cool stuff. If this technology will do harm to your eyes (probably the most vital of the 5 senses.) by producing heat, and damaging your retinas, then why would the government keep this piece of technology in production for soldiers and even the average Joe?
ReplyDeleteYou tell me why they would do that Kayla?
-Tanner J.
Personally, might I just say, I love your topic. I think it's a very awesome thing to think about.
ReplyDeleteThese things are certainly being made to help people. Being made to assist. As a person who has to watch her glucose levels, I think this is absolutely great. I would love to rely on something similar to this. I also believe that there is a way to over-rely on these types of products on the glucose side of things as well as the super-human sight, which I'm slightly disappointed to see that you didn't point out. If a person becomes too attached to a product that is older and more likely to fail, then they will not notice when it finally does, possibly becoming detrimental to their health. Over-reliance on any product is terrible, and should be avoided at any cost. I believe that if this product should be used, it should be used with some other way to certify that the contacts are showing the correct thing.
As for the superhuman sight, I believe that this shouldn't be the main focus, and should be used only for soliders and such. This is important - it's like allowing nuclear weapons to go to everybody. Obviously dangerous, and more obviously stupid.
It could just be me, but these contact lenses creep me out a little bit. I don’t think I like the idea of “super humans,” even if it did help our military. It seems like those people would just become robots. In your SEIs you put equality of access because the contacts are expensive (which makes complete sense), but with technology moving as quickly as it is, they wont be expensive forever and then most if not all people will have them. That means a world of creepy robot eyes, somehow I don’t think that will turn out well.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, it does sound like they could do a lot of good in the medical world, because they are able to keep track of peoples health. But, your wrote that the tests showed that the contacts did not harm the wearer while the digital parts were turned off. Doesn’t that mean that they did cause harm when it was turned on? And if it does, how much damage can it cause? Which also leads me to ask, isn’t the digital part of the contact lense what controls its ability to test the subject’s health? So what’s the point of the amazing digital contact lense if it doesn’t do anything if it is turned on, but at the same time, can harm the wearer when it is turned on?
-Allison J.
I agree with Allison. This technology kind of creeps me out. Humans should never be like robots. Humans are not suppose to be perfect and I don't think that we should be able to be able to see, hear, etc. everything. Not being perfect is what makes us human. Being a "super human" does not seem kosher to me. And as far as the whole military aspect, it would help us at first but then the other countries that we are warring with would get the same technology. Therefore, the grounds would be level and no one would really have an advantage over the other.
ReplyDeleteBut I do really like how Kala was talking about the (hopefully) main focus of the article which was the medical aspect of the contact lenses. I think this could be a great break through for people with diabetes. Not only will testing for blood glucose levels be painless, but they will not have to be worrying about all the time. There are quite a few relatives of mine that would benefit from these contact lenses a lot! I also kind of like how easily the lenses can check up on someone's health condition. But one thing that worries me is this: who gets to see this information?
-kaitlin p
I think this is really interesting. I think that if this contact ends up working and doesn’t harm people I think a lot more people would buy them and use them. It would be a lot more helpful wearing this little contact to check yourself than wearing a small little box on your hip. Also having it increase eyesight would be awesome if it can actually do that. I know I would for sure buy these to make my eyesight better. I have really good eyesight already but I would defiantly love to be able to see even better. But also when I think about the creepy people in the world the issue of those creepy people using these contact lenses to spy on people or zoom in and stare at people in a gross way. That would defiantly freak me out. I would feel like someone is always watching me and I don’t like that feeling.
ReplyDeletePeople could use this to invade a lot of privacy. And I like my privacy. I can also see some potential harm. Like if somehow the contact lenses got interrupted somehow and spark and that could defiantly hurt the eye its in.
The picture is kind of creepy too. I think I would defiantly be at least a little freaked out if I looked and someone had a silver thing in the middle of his or her eye. And no doubt about it I would want to touch it.
Wow!! This is soooo cool!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Alli and Kaitlin that it is kind of creepy, but it's no worse than wearing contacts. I don't really care about the Army or Marines, but for those who have the money and want to be able to zoom in on things is amazing.
The only things I would be worried about would be if part of the technology was off and sticking out cause that would cause some major damage. The other is if something malfunctioned and exploded.. you never know. That too would cause major damage.
I also like the part about how people would be able to teach and/or learn, it would be very helpful. But if it did get to the point of being able to access the internet, then the learning thing would be defective. Kids would be able to cheat on tests and then who really is learning?
I disagree with Aislinn, Kaitlyn, and Ally; because O doesn’t think it’s creepy at all. I think this technology is really cool. I also disagree a little bit with your analysis of the equality of access issue. I feel like if these contacts were ever released that they would be used by the military (for war) or in healthcare (diabetes monitoring) rather than being sold just for fun because fun is not as important. If they are used for war and healthcare, I feel like they would be distributed by the government to those who need it not want it? I feel Equality of access would only have a negative affect if it was used by a group in war so that they had a greater advantage by far. I also think that even if the rich buy them just for fun, its entertainment and not something you need so it’s considered a luxury and therefore not needed by anyone.
ReplyDeleteI want to know why study on rabbits? Do they have similar eye characteristics to humans? How do the scientists know what the rabbits see?
Other than that I found the blog very interesting and it’s my favorite to read!
Tianna S.
Tanner, these contacts give one the opportunity to kill (yes, assassinate is killing) by being able to mess with the data (like I wrote in Security… one could do this by reverse engineering) that the contacts will record. By changing some ones data, (for example) they could change the results that one could get for their blood glucose levels, which if you had diabetes; that would be very dangerous (even fatal). If they could do this then they could also change data in order to cover up evidence. Say a person who was wearing them died (by murder), and the contacts would record what time and date this happened. If you could change the data of this record, then that would eliminate suspects . . . You could get a person off the hook for killing some one just by messing with the data recorded on the contacts. And, these contacts are still a work in progress Tanner, they have yet to smooth out the kinks in them, so at the moment, the present problem that these scientists are working with is the toxicity level, and damage it could do to the eye.
ReplyDeleteKelsey, Thank you for mentioning that! Yes, you are right that it would be detrimental to ones health if we become too reliant on them.
Allison, good questions! That was the whole point of mentioning it not being turned on (they probably did not mention it in the interview because it had negative affects). The contacts are still being tested and altered, and the possible affects of them being turned on while on the iris was discussed in the Security category, for it could emit toxic fumes and hurt the iris. The damage that it would emit would most likely be fatal to our all so sensitive eyes. It would do something when it is turned on, but first they have to make sure it is safe for humans to use (apparently its okay to harm the rabbits). Also, there will always be people who will not be able to afford these kinds of things, even now; there are people who cannot afford computers. I will assume that this will be the same situation with the digital eye contacts if they are successful.
The people that would have access to this information would be the people/company managing them. We will not know who or what company they are until they are safe and available. But the access to this data could be hacked into, or intercepted by unknown persons.
Yes, the super human sight would be very dangerous to give just too any ones hands… But we must also consider the possibility that any government could become corrupted… or any Militia officer. And that it would not be hard to get them, especially in war. (I don’t need to go into specific detail on how they would get them… I am sure you could put two and two together.)
The articles I read mentioned nothing about the rabbits except that they were being used for testing. I do believe, though, that they are using them because either A. Easy access to get one B. Their eyes are bigger to test on (rather than on mice) and closer to the size of a human’s eye. Although I do not know how they know for sure how the rabbits see anything… That is a very good question Tianna. Also, I believe that eventually these contacts would be sold to the public, though that may take time. . . Also, we need to take into consideration that there are people that would love to make easy money by selling these devices under-handedly.