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Eric Schmidt: Google Glass Critics 'Afraid of Change,' Society Will Adapt

Posted by Soulskill on from the didn't-they-say-the-same-about-the-segway dept.

curtwoodward writes "Eric Schmidt came to Harvard this week to discuss his new book, but many students really wanted to know more about the implications for privacy and social interaction once Google Glass starts hitting the market. Schmidt cautioned against jumping to the worst conclusions, saying that society always tends to adapt to new technologies — and he's hoping for etiquette rather than government regulation. Of course, that's what you would say if you used to run a company that has been fined and paid settlements to regulators for the way it scoops up data and tracks users. But Schmidt also doesn't have much patience for critics: 'Criticisms are inevitably from people who are afraid of change, or who have not figured out that there will be an adaptation of society.'"

8 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Segway by kk49 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...

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    You can have your god back when you are old enough to handle the responsibility.
    1. Re:Segway by niftydude · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This. Society picks up the changes it wants, and discards the ones it doesn't, and keeps on rolling.

      Just because the Schmidt spent millions of dollars developing a product doesn't mean it will be a success - only time will tell that. The Segway didn't crack the market, and google glass might not.

      Personally speaking, I wouldn't mind something like a ruggedized google glass for snow boarding, long distance running, or other sporting activities where you want to track things like speed, heart rate etc, but I can't see myself wearing something like that on a daily basis just to walk around town.

      But maybe there is a segment of society that needs to know the location of the nearest burger joint stat, and doesn't have the attention span to remember how to get there without walking into walls unless the directions are drip fed to them every 5 seconds. There are certainly many other multi-billion dollar industries out there from which I have never bought a single product.

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      You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
    2. Re:Segway by DJRumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think his comment was aimed more at those who simply don't want to be recorded 24x7. Although this is becoming the norm in some of the larger metro areas across it's not all that common in the U.S for example.

      I actually find I'm not all that comfortable with it either and I'm no criminal. It just has a bit of a creepy vibe that's hard to ignore.

      It's also hard to ignore Google primary business profit motive. Couple that with these, and the likely place that these sorts of clips, photos, and video's will end up, and it just turns me off to the idea.

      My personal opinion, but it is what it is.

  2. Google Glass is the new Segway by DontScotty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Radical Change Product= Radical Change Product

    Where can it be used legally? = Where can it be used legally?

    How comfortable are people going to be when they see you have one and they don't? = How comfortable are people going to be when they see you have one and they don't?

    Kinda Spend y - people who can't afford it will be all sour grapes. :-)

  3. Re:Big words... by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Let's not forget that he (Google's Eric Schmidt) is a vindictive bastard, too. When CNET journalists dug out some publically available information on him personally, (read for yourself) he attacked their livelihood by banning them from talking with the whole of Google for a year.

    Frankly, he's a bit of a loose cannon, if I was a Google executive, I'd think about ways to muzzle him.

  4. Sometimes we should fear change. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If someone threated, for example, to CHANGE the relative locations of his facial features (to rearrange his face, so to speak,) I'd wager he'd be "afraid" of such a change too, the smug, hypocritical bastard.

    We don't much like the idea of people walking around having the ability to snap photos without having to do anything making it at least a little obvious that they're taking them, the same way we don't like, 364 days out of the year, people walking around wearing masks and costumes that obscure their faces so you can't tell who they are or what expression they're wearing.

    Schmidt's supercilious attitude that anyone who doesn't like people walking around with cameras perched on their heads recording continuously is a Luddite, is an insult, quite frankly. How do you suppose he'd feel about people recording HIM everywhere he goes? For the sake of argument, let's pretend that he, like most of the rest of us, can't go off somewhere to hide from prying eyes and ears, given most of the rest of us aren't rich. He probably would feel different.

    I have a bad feeling that people using Google Glass are going to get assaulted, battered, and have their "Glasses" ripped off their heads and shoved up their asses. The Schmidthead apparently thinks etiquette will keep people from misbehaving... he's really living in lala-land if he believes that schmidt.

    As for society adapting, I think people will start to take more steps to avoid being photographed, such as with disguises, large sunglasses, etc., which I may have to go out and buy now.

    When did Google cross over to the Dark Side (TM)? Does anyone know? They're clearly evil now, but when did it actually happen? When did they start down the Dark Path?

  5. Re:Afraid of change by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sometimes the geeks are so narrowly obsessed they miss the big picture.

    The same geeks laughed at the PC like we do the IPAD when it came out because it was not as cool as the mainframe when doing word processing. Look whom won?

    I bashed the IPAD too as I wanted a hip macbook and heard the rumors of a low cost netbook and found iOS a neutered cell phone OS. Boo! I was wrong and misunderstood that some people just didn't give a shit about a full featured OS. I missed the point as I was a geek who was narrow.

    Same is true with some Linux folks I see touting how XP users in hospitals who are sticking with their old software due to costs recommend Linux. I hate to tell you guys this but without apps who gives a fuck!? You mean GNU is going to donate the $10,000 required for certification? How sweet etc.

    The geeks are afraid of change which is Windows. And the doctors are the ones who rightfully do not want to change as their software only runs on XP and why fix what is not broken?

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    http://saveie6.com/
  6. Re:criticisms by spire3661 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You read science fiction and didnt see wearable tech coming by now? Or were expecting to die sooner?

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    Good-bye