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im all for Google Glass - but I just don't see anyone talking about the health aspects of these glasses. Given the prominence of electromagnetic radiation and t

by timmyd 14y ago

im all for Google Glass - but I just don't see anyone talking about the health aspects of these glasses. Given the prominence of electromagnetic radiation and the often fear that it has spread around the globe in respect of brain activity, heat and so on. how possibly can it be healthy to be wearing a set of these around, all day long, with data beaming towards your temple as it processes what you are looking at ? i love the idea and concept - im just not sure I like the idea of the electromagnetic radiation being so rawly exposed to your head for as long as you are wearing the glasses. at least with mobile phones you are subjected to "bursts" in the sense that its only for the duration that the phone is against your head (which many fear - regardless of whether you personally being FUD or not) contrast this to glass however, it's there constantly and design to be so. i would just love to know the risks associated with the volume of data, the impact of such exposure and the level of heat generated etc. it just seems to be swept aside in my mind

mattgreenrocks 14y ago
My fear is not even that: I worry about a future where we're so used to loads of context sensitive information bombarding us that we see it as weird to unplug or otherwise try to slow down. Consider Facebook: it is probably a net negative for me, but in the past five years it's become weird not to have an account. So, I delay killing it off, justifying it not by the utility, but instead by the apparent necessity.
- timmyd 14y ago
  Sure that's a valid fear - and I do agree that in some sense it will be information overload. Anything will be accessible anywhere with a flick of your eyes - so the data stream will be even more accessible than with your mobile phone (which requires a series of actual user positive interactions by unlocking the phone, entering a query and so on) Of course, the entire health effects of eye movements and constant electromagnetic radiation exposure are probably a different vertical than that however.
- listic 14y ago
  See Charles Stross' "Accelerando"; chapter 3, "Tourist". When heavy user of glasses is being mugged of them, they lose nearly all of their intelligence and identity. They stumble around like a blind idiot, trying in vain to remember what they lost and how to get it back. The book is available for free from the author's website, and individual chapters make sense as self-contained short stories. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...
dhughes 14y ago
I understand and agree with you but I also think about how much radio, microwaves and other types of electromagnetic radiation (yes I know not nuclear radiation) we are bathed in everyday, other than light and natural sources. Also there is the inverse square law, just because we are bombarded by EM radiation doesn't mean it's damaging due to being so weak. Yet a transmitter mere millimetres from your brain cells is a greater risk. Then again we sit in MRI machines at a flux density of 5 Tesla for health reasons!
- timmyd 14y ago
  yeah true - but as with all that data, the proximity of it is in no extent to the same degree as these glasses is going to be. a 4G chip, literally 1cm from your temple for 8-16 hours a day just cannot be something that is encouraged or that is recommended. i just can't fathom how that could possibly be safe regardless of your view of electromagnetic radiation - having that against your head for 16 hours a day, 365 days a year. It accounts to 5840 hours of a 1cm differential of electromagnetic radiation to your brain ? strapping a mobile phone to your head with a 4G chip and letting it sit there isn't something I can see myself doing and the entire utility of the glasses is designed to essentially be "always on" - i can't see you wearing them for 15 minutes and putting them away ? i love that Google are pushing the edge, but maybe they need to invent some sort of electromagnetic radiation wrapper so it doesn't permeate into your brain all day
  - daeken 14y ago
    There is no 4G chip -- or any cell radio at all -- in Google Glass. There is Bluetooth, but that's insanely low powered. Anyway, there's absolutely no evidence that any of this is even remotely harmful; which makes sense when you look at the physics of it, since none of this is ionizing radiation.
    - timmyd 14y ago
      Sure - but the only way to use it at the moment (as was shown in the demo at Google I/O was to stream via a bluetooth connection to a mobile device) and Sergy Brin has also indicated that it will contain mobile connectivity
stcredzero 14y ago
> Given the prominence of electromagnetic radiation and the often fear that it has spread around the globe in respect of brain activity, heat and so on. Mostly thoroughly debunked: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4072 http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4072 There is still some valid scientific uncertainty about more powerful microwaves which can penetrate into your brain, but at this point it's only uncertainty.
redwood 14y ago
I think people (especially men) should be more worried about having broadcasting mobile phones stored on belts and in pockets near the genitals, especially during times of active reproduction.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  That's uninformed and goofy.

by timmyd 14y ago

mattgreenrocks 14y ago

My fear is not even that: I worry about a future where we're so used to loads of context sensitive information bombarding us that we see it as weird to unplug or otherwise try to slow down. Consider Facebook: it is probably a net negative for me, but in the past five years it's become weird not to have an account. So, I delay killing it off, justifying it not by the utility, but instead by the apparent necessity.

timmyd 14y ago
Sure that's a valid fear - and I do agree that in some sense it will be information overload. Anything will be accessible anywhere with a flick of your eyes - so the data stream will be even more accessible than with your mobile phone (which requires a series of actual user positive interactions by unlocking the phone, entering a query and so on) Of course, the entire health effects of eye movements and constant electromagnetic radiation exposure are probably a different vertical than that however.
listic 14y ago
See Charles Stross' "Accelerando"; chapter 3, "Tourist". When heavy user of glasses is being mugged of them, they lose nearly all of their intelligence and identity. They stumble around like a blind idiot, trying in vain to remember what they lost and how to get it back. The book is available for free from the author's website, and individual chapters make sense as self-contained short stories. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...

dhughes 14y ago

I understand and agree with you but I also think about how much radio, microwaves and other types of electromagnetic radiation (yes I know not nuclear radiation) we are bathed in everyday, other than light and natural sources. Also there is the inverse square law, just because we are bombarded by EM radiation doesn't mean it's damaging due to being so weak. Yet a transmitter mere millimetres from your brain cells is a greater risk. Then again we sit in MRI machines at a flux density of 5 Tesla for health reasons!

timmyd 14y ago
yeah true - but as with all that data, the proximity of it is in no extent to the same degree as these glasses is going to be. a 4G chip, literally 1cm from your temple for 8-16 hours a day just cannot be something that is encouraged or that is recommended. i just can't fathom how that could possibly be safe regardless of your view of electromagnetic radiation - having that against your head for 16 hours a day, 365 days a year. It accounts to 5840 hours of a 1cm differential of electromagnetic radiation to your brain ? strapping a mobile phone to your head with a 4G chip and letting it sit there isn't something I can see myself doing and the entire utility of the glasses is designed to essentially be "always on" - i can't see you wearing them for 15 minutes and putting them away ? i love that Google are pushing the edge, but maybe they need to invent some sort of electromagnetic radiation wrapper so it doesn't permeate into your brain all day
- daeken 14y ago
  There is no 4G chip -- or any cell radio at all -- in Google Glass. There is Bluetooth, but that's insanely low powered. Anyway, there's absolutely no evidence that any of this is even remotely harmful; which makes sense when you look at the physics of it, since none of this is ionizing radiation.
  - timmyd 14y ago
    Sure - but the only way to use it at the moment (as was shown in the demo at Google I/O was to stream via a bluetooth connection to a mobile device) and Sergy Brin has also indicated that it will contain mobile connectivity

stcredzero 14y ago

> Given the prominence of electromagnetic radiation and the often fear that it has spread around the globe in respect of brain activity, heat and so on. Mostly thoroughly debunked: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4072 http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4072 There is still some valid scientific uncertainty about more powerful microwaves which can penetrate into your brain, but at this point it's only uncertainty.

redwood 14y ago

I think people (especially men) should be more worried about having broadcasting mobile phones stored on belts and in pockets near the genitals, especially during times of active reproduction.

jpxxx 14y ago
That's uninformed and goofy.