Privacy versus security in an augmented reality world

Can the next leap in technology help us reduce fear of the unknown? Is privacy obsolete?  

By Jon Peddie

Privacy is about the things you want to hide, whereas security is about the things you want to protect. And, I think they are two totally different things.

I recently gave a lecture on augmented reality at a conference where I presented my view of the future. In the near future, 2020 if not sooner, we will wear glasses, regular looking glasses like sunglasses or prescription lenses—what some people call spectacles. These glasses will display information for us (directions, translations, database information on people, hidden things like pipes in a wall, etc.). They will also record everything we see, and thereby become a witness. That will end disputes about who said and did what. And that — combined with almost infinite information — will reduce our fear which will in turn make us better, happier, more confident people. We will be able to confidently go to new places, and avoid places that may be dangerous. The police will no longer have to be feared, and in turn they will have less fear of us.

Augmented reality will reduce fear of the unknown, and make us more knowable so we don’t cause fear in others.

Read the rest of Jon’s provocative insights at the Jon Peddie Research website.

Dr. Jon Peddie is President of Jon Peddie Research, publisher of GraphicSpeak.