Thursday, June 16, 2005

AI developed for Mars explorers





"The cyborg astrobiologist consists of a 667MHz wearable computer, a tablet display with stylus or visor, a colour video camera and tripod.

"It would provide 'augmented reality', allowing astronauts on future Mars missions to narrow down their search for targets relevant to life processes on the Red Planet."

I think augmented reality has at least as many possibilities as "pure" virtual reality; it's easy to imagine a future where everyone takes part in AR for a considerable fraction of each day, kind of like cellphone use now. Much has been made of the narcotic effects of email and instant-messaging. Eventually, taking one's senses offline might be unbearable to the point of psychotic breakdown.

Of course, some eccentrics with eschew AR and live relatively Puritan lifestyles, content only with GPS gear, plasma TVs, PDAs and broadband Internet.

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