I have a terrible sense of direction, and I kind of want it.
I wonder what the long term effects would be, positive and negative.
A compass is more precise than the sun. A GPS gives location along with lots of other detail and is normally included with a map giving you your exact position, and the direction for you to go to get somewhere. This one doesn't really provide any benefit over the GPS, does it? Outside of the "poetic" stuff about "knowing your place in the world~" it's a device that gives little value for high cost.
The analogies were with regard to ease of use with proximity to the user. It's not about the detail, it's not about the exact direction. It's mere orientation for daily use designed to be as inherent as smell. It's simple and alternative. It's not meant to be the end-all-be-all of navigation. Is it high cost? Of course it is, it's a small pioneering device. Is it highly practical? Depends who you talk to. In the "First World," probably not. On the other hand, its implications with regard to cohesion with the brain is the interesting part. It serves as another consistent point of data for encoding interactions around you.
Of course I could always find north if I really wanted to seek it out. I think the cool part about this being attached to your body is that you'll always have that sense of where it is. I'm imagining that eventually you would always have a sense of your place in the world.
There a tribe somewhere the members of which always know where north and south are. They achieved it through the way they orientate within the language. They don't say "behind you" or "on your left": they use absolute angular positioning to determine towards which end of the world the object is. Basically, their brain is being wired to orientate pole-wise from the very infancy. Don't listen to bioemerl: he's a grump if I've ever seen one. Extending one's capabilities is cool, especially so if it pertains to survival skills.
I have always been fascinated by man's use of material culture to extend its bodily [in]capabilities - especially so in our day and age. Using electronics to engineer/further our own evolution per se is how I'd like to envision our short circuiting of our biological evolution. Yes, I know that's not actually possible, but in a sense of what path it'll take us down instead. This looks like a phenomenally simple yet potentially life altering device in the most minute of ways. With so many trinkets out on the market, I'd be surprised to see it flourish, but it's sure as hell something I'd love to try on. If you liked this, I'd highly suggest: 1. Taking a listen at this episode of NPR's Podcast Invisiblia where they interview the creator of Google Glass. They don't interview him for Google Glass, mind you, but for the device it was inspired from: a computer he created that's been attached to him since high school. 2. Watching Season 1 Episode 3 of Black Mirror. I know it's on Netflix, or you could probably find it on the web somewhere. Black Mirror is described as Twilight Zone-esque in the way it explores Sci-Fi/Futuristic possibilities. The whole series has great commentary on technology, its effects on us and what its capabilities are. This episode in particular focuses on a not-to-distant-future where you can get an implant which records everything you see and hear, and the device allows you to play these recordings back. In short, allows you to remember everything. In some ways I'd like to think it is a part of the commentary on whether Sci-Fi shapes our own modern day tech or vice versa. I'd like to argue to the former. :) EDIT: 3. A bit more meta or tangential depending on the perspective, the book "The Medium is the Massage" by Marshall McLuhan. Critically Acclaimed.
Very cool. 250 quid is steep, but I assume it's a one-time fee. For those really considering it, I'd suggest you wait until a bit of a longer term study is done before attaching something like this, permanently, to your body. Even if just because it might screw with your ability to get an MRI or CAT scan in the future. I have always wondered what it'd be like to have that perfect intuitive sense of direction, but this is something I'll pass on for the time being.
Yeah, for 250 GBP I'd want to wait at least for a v2. The good thing about this is that the actual device is just attached to a set of barbells, so getting a new device or removing it can be done yourself once you have the barbells. That sense of direction sounds amazing to me, since I have next to none right now. I wonder what the long term impact of always knowing your orientation is. There's a lot of windy streets / turn in my daily routes, so it's really easy for me to not know where the different places I go through my dare are in relation to each other. I'm imagining that getting a feel for your location would come pretty quick with the device.