High-Tech Glasses Help Improve Memory 272
unassimilatible writes "MIT will reportedly announce new high-tech glasses which they claim will improve memory by up to 50%. The spectacles are implanted with a CPU that sends messages in the form of light to a mini TV screen on the glasses. The messages - like someone's name, or a word like keys or medicine - flash before your eyes at 180th of a second. Pardon me, but I'll wait for the reviews, since I am still smarting from buying those X-ray glasses in the back of magazines." These "memory glasses" were also discussed at the recent International Symposium on Wearable Computers.
testing (Score:2, Interesting)
Could this be learned for generalized learning? (Score:3, Interesting)
Basing off of what little I know about the way human being learn, I can't imagine these could be used for learning of a subject not already known, but I bet they could be used for review or memorization. Neato.
Great for large meetings (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally I'd find it great if they could add voice recognition to it. One of my biggest weaknesses is remembering new names, especially when I'm introduced to a whole bunch of people one after the other. (I remember a job interview where I was taken on a tour of the building, and met around 10 people in 15 minutes. Then near the end of the tour, one of those people joined us for the rest of the interview, and I was trying desperately to remember which one he was :) ). Being able to have it dynamically associate people's faces with names and display a prompt would be a huge assist.
Subliminal Messages? (Score:5, Interesting)
From a Psych 101 example:
Whats a popular laundry detergent? Answer after you have read this list:
- Moon
- Ocean
- Water
- Ebb
- Beach
If you answered Tide detergent, congradulations, you may have been "primed" into answering that. Admitedly Tide has a good market share in the laundry detergent but the priming effect can be demonstrated with other non-local examples. (I belive this works best if you live in Canada)
I was under the impression that flashing text quickly so that your eye doesn't notice it was just another form of subliminal messaging...
I was also under the impression that these types of subliminal messages don't work...
So can anyone sort this out? I must be confused about something.
More than that, if TV's or some permutation of a TV in the future can do this, whats to stop companies from flashing "BUY COKE" every 180th frame.
Re:Subliminal messaging viruses (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Subliminal messaging viruses (Score:3, Interesting)
Advertisers' Wet Dream Come True (Score:5, Interesting)
As per the article, they are triggered into action via RF. I am in Tokyo right now and the sheer magnitude of visual input from everything from neon to big screen televisions to giant posters is almost paralyzing at times. I am afraid to even contemplate how this annoyance would be compounded thru the use (and surely abuse) of this type of technology by the marketing drones of the world.
And then, there is always the conspiracy theorist angle. What if subversive powers (governmental or otherwise) tapped into this type of technology to recruit and/or spread propaganda. It would completely redefine everything from armed forces and/or terrorist recruitment all the way up to presidential elections.
Even worse, with the subliminal nature of this tech, you might not even realize at first why purchasing a copy of M$ Office 2003 seems like such a great idea all of a sudden, why you are suddenly craving some KFC only minutes after eating, or why you have completely changed your opinion of Dubya...
Scary shit if you ask me...
- n2q
They do the remembering for you.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Augmented Reality? (Score:4, Interesting)
Does anybody have any information on affordable wearable computers (with the glasses and all) that you don't need a computer engineering degree to put together?
Re:Subliminal messaging viruses (Score:3, Interesting)
my step-son is schitsophrenic. he has about 7 different voices telling him to kill people, and do other bad things.
without his med's the voices are loud and drives him mad, with his med's he said the voices are very quiet in the background but are still there. and no he doesn't kill anything.
Re:Made by MicroOptical (Score:3, Interesting)
> market yet". Vapour.
Fortunatly for this project however, every item I would need to build this setup myself is available right now.
As a matter of fact, the only part I cant have this very second is the software (Designing something from scratch to emulate someone elses software is easier than totally making it from scratch however)
HUD glasses have been available for a couple of years in different forms.
The wearable computer existd in multiple forms. Think about the CPU power of an iPaq, and then its size.
I had this idea myself not 3 years ago, except i desired face/voice/OCR reconition in my device, but still dont think we are close enough to some of those technologies to currently do it.
OCR is about the only thing that may work, IE you look at a store sign and it pops up info, or a street sign and you can bring up a map of the area, etc.
The hardest part is getting data INTO the system, not out.
But I dont doubt for a second that people are already working on the out part like this, as they have been doing it for atleast 4 years.
that's true more than you think. (Score:3, Interesting)
The overall efect of this overstimulation is evident in divorce and suicide rates. If you have not noticed, both of those rates are at historic highs. It's sort of like bodybuilders and steroids, it's never existed before because it's not natural. You are profoundly agitated on a daily basis and it's having a very negative effect on society.
The non free version of these glasses would personalize the message. With RFID's advertisers would know exactly who you are. I can imagine them acting like sunglasses in places like the mall because 90 shops at once will want your 1/180 of a second blip-vert. We'd be better off if this would make people's head explode.