CEO and co-founder of Meetup.com, Scott Heiferman, tells us why he wants to punch Google Glass wearers in the face. Heiferman is known for smashing an iPad back in 2010 at, you guessed it, a Meetup event. “Meetup takes interactions offline and creates communities in the real world, which explains why Heiferman is not too excited about yet another gadget that keeps you in the virtual world.” (source)
Google Glass is a new technology that you wear like glasses. It is connected to the Internet and projects images directly onto your retina. It has a camera, so it sees everything you see. It can record video, take pictures, give directions, translate signs, and a lot more. There are a lot of positives and a lot of negatives about the technology. It offers tremendous benefits, but at a tremendous cost. And there are huge privacy implications.
But will it enhance our ability to connect with people, or detract from it?
“It’s easier and easier for you to ignore real people around you.” Heiferman states in this video. “It basically means that you’re going to be an asshole.”
We at the Local Voluntary also believe that real world interaction is how we affect our friends, families and world. These technologies like Google Glass, Facebook, Twitter, all of them give us the illusion of interacting with the real world and real people we care about. But these technologies fall very short when it comes to them making us more happy, informed, connected, entertained and effective in real life.
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