Thinking Out Loud
by
Randy Mears
So there you are, minding your own business when someone behind you asks, “So, do you want to have lunch with me today?”
You turn around and say, “Do I know you?” The person behind you turns the other way and you see the telltale Bluetooth ear pod, blue light flashing, firmly planted in their ear. The worst part is the look they give you; like you are an idiot for thinking they were speaking to you. You try to ignore them without showing your annoyance.
To me, the big flaw in the whole tiny-Bluetooth-headset-with-secreted-cell-phone thing is that, when used in public, someone often seems to come away either looking like or feeling like an idiot. I think it would be nice if those headsets could project an animated “I’m on the phone” hologram above the user’s head. That way we would all know that we should just ignore their ranting and raving.
NASA comes to the rescue. The concept of sub vocal speech is already more than two years old but its future successful implementation could be pure magic. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “thinking out loud” and will make private cell phone conversations possible in public.
Of course the potential impact of this technology goes way beyond my little cell phone scenario. As speech based human-computer interfaces become more robust, the ability to use silent speech with them will be groundbreaking. With the ability to silently control our technologies, we would be able to unobtrusively use them to augment our intelligence, manipulate our environment and communicate with each other.
I better stop now; it’s getting a little scary.
