Sci-fi shows visualize the extreme prediction of the future with technological advancement. In Black Mirror, an episode Nosedive shows advanced technology by applying augmented reality visible through eyes. People can rate each other, which resembles the caste system. Depending on the rating, people get benefits or disadvantages if one’s rating is low. It limits people to behave in a certain way, which restricts people’s freedom. And people discriminate against ones with a low rating, which derogates the respect to each individual, which is an essential value for humanity.
In terms of technology, I am quite optimistic about the augmented reality shown through pupils. Currently, we do have glasses from Google, which mimics the augmented reality. This lens-sized futuristic technology interprets our vision and analyzes the movement and the object shown in the eye, affecting the neuro system to conduct the action. The augmented reality immersed with the real world may provide data regarding human’s daily life. We would view information about the surrounding environment, such as weather and time. It may also display emails, phone calls, and notifications of schedule, which is an essential aspect of modern society. We can view the related information of surrounding objects in real-time utilizing the Internet of Things. Linking neural systems to this augmented reality may help us answer the incoming messages within our minds.
Despite the benefits that augmented reality offers to humanity, we have concerns regarding ethical issues. In a trailer of The Feed, an Amazon Prime Video show, people proactively use augmented reality, which affects and controls people as the system’s owner wants. The display warns of the possible scenario in which the information manipulates people through augmented reality. It reminded me of IoT, the Internet of Things, which accumulates items with an embedded tag. This big data may collect personal information, which might trigger the invasion of privacy. The augmented reality with vast data could confuse people, as they might believe it as a reality that is not real.
Moreover, some issues are related to the experiment on the human body. The augmented reality has a connection to our senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch, which function to receive and interpret the data. Augmented reality converts this information and visualizes on our sight. Allowing permission to access private data may impact our minds if false data is exposed to oneself, making us biased.
As a designer, we need to be careful with a possible effect on potential users and avoid privacy invasion. With augmented reality, I think designers could provide the data, which required a few steps to access these days, in real-time within the human vision, and offer users the ability to calibrate the data hierarchy on virtual display for individual optimal behavior.
