URL: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-glass-is-both-cool-and-creepy-2013-5#ixzz2uMYTu0Vn

Google Glass is among the most sought after current technologies out there. It is truly a revolutionary product in the field of wearable gadgets. It has a small microprocessor chip attached to the glass that is capable of taking pictures, recording videos and even giving directions. The product currently isn’t for sale on the market, but is already around and about and is being used by thousands of select developers and google employees. At first it may seem like a really cool and savvy device however, it has increasingly garnered angry glares from non google glass users who find this device to be “creepy”. In the article, it is also described as something that violates the norms of social etiquettes.

It has made people feel uncomfortable to the point that places such as restaurants and bars have banned the use of google glass inside their premises. When lawmakers raised the issue of google glass having having capabilities such as facial recognition, google simply argued saying that the device doesn’t have that feature. Is google glass any different from a smartphone? Technically speaking no it isn’t. Before mobile phones became common, they were frowned upon too. Now it isn’t strange or uncomfortable to see people use their smartphones around us. However, what makes google glass stand out is the fact that it is a device that is on your face. Wearable devices haven’t been accepted by the society yet and I believe such is the case due to psychological reasons.Our face is our identity. We recognize others through their faces and any anomalies on a face such as a google glass device would make us uncomfortable to a certain extent.

If philosophers such as Aristotle or Immanuel Kant were alive what would they say about google glass? They most certainly would have been fascinated and encouraged its use. Aristotle being a true scientist and Kant being a propagator or reason himself would perhaps encourage its use. Technology is developing at a rapid pace and futuristic devices such as google glass have great utility and are aimed at making our lives more convenient. However, just like smartphones google glass has immense potential for unethical use. For instance, currently when it records a video it has a red light that blinks which indicates that a video is being recorded. Although, I am certain that this feature could be disabled through certain hacks and very soon google glass users could be recording videos in public without getting caught. Such moral and ethical dilemmas do raise some serious concerns with the use of google glass and how easily it could transform from a technology of utility to a technology of destruction. It is therefore, critical of engineers working on google glass to tackle such safety issues and ethical concerns raised over this device and find ways to prevent it.