The wearable tech debate. Again?

Sept. 5, 2014
Is body-worn tech just that? Yes.

There's this website on the world wide web which allows a vast number of people to post videos. I'm speaking of YouTube. Of the people also posting clips of their pet doing some strange act, others took to this and created shows. One show I've enjoyed thus far, and continue to, is PBS Idea Channel.

Recently (Aug. 20 or so) they posted published an episode that examined an animated show and pondered if it was a warning on wearable technology. The animated show features kids wearing clothing that had a life of its own ... the ainmation calls it "life fibers." The host walks you down a long and winding path to bring you to how their argument associates this "living clothing" with our real-life technology. I took this stroll down the "here's an idea" trail. I then turned around, sat down at a bench near the middle and am asking myself, while I understand there's a complex arguement that doesn't fit my interests ... with that cut out what's the criticism on wearable technology here? There there I began in an ouroboros-ian thought process.

In late August 2014 it seemed the national media had a new brief affair with body-worn cameras. (And the aforementioned video went live on Aug. 20? See what they did there?) The media created the perception that certain events may have inspired particular decisions and purchases on particular police departments around the country. So with the interest high, I'm sure people are having the "privacy" debate all over again.

So what's the message? PBS Idea Channel says it quite well around the 4:40 mark starting with a quote from Walter Benjamin, "The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as it's organ. That technology has not been sufficently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society. The clothing…is not simply aestitic or ornament or signafier, its also technology - wearable technology." The host continues with admitting that the animated series' clothing idea isnt' technically a computer or sensor. He adds (with a great line by the way), "but that's also a very narrow concept of technology - which isn't just stuff that blinks. It's the total set of applied knowlege that we use to accomplish things."

He then further connects this with the animation's clothing idea noting the clothes aren't actually digital gadgets, "…but they are used as technology - the result of applied knowledge that allowed its user to behave more effectivly in the world." At this point the arguemnt goes into the potatoes of the arguement questioning whether or not wearable technology could contribute into some dystopian class-based universe.

Isn't that the point of all this technology, to make the user that much more effiecent at doing the work at hand? First and foremost wearable technology is still technology. Wether it informs you of your heartbeat, geo-locats your teammates in the immediate world, displays data or captures photographs at a high frame rate, this is all JUST technology. And with that comes an inherent limitation to what the concept can accomplish. A tool can only be a tool. It transcending into something else is basically ... impossible really difficult.

Is that the point right there? Technology does nothing until we tell it to do it right? Software runs in the background grabbing data and processing it. A gadget on my head only displays me alerts when it was instructed based on a set creteria. None of this happens without our concent - without a human telling it to do that in the first place.

Today's "wearables" debate seems to be mirroring the point and I'm glad: "technology - the result of applied knowledge that allowed its user to behave more effectivly in the world." A quick search on the Internet can find article after article, opinion piece after opinion piece stating that technology can assist law enforcement, help them become that much more efficient, and possibly that much more safe.

Rings a pretty big bell when you think about it in that setting. Whether a law enforcement officer wears technology on their uniform shirt or not, technology in whatever form you'd like cannot dictate real-life moments. It can however affect those moments. Using the body-camera example, complaints against police drop significantly when you put a camera in the frame. Are people behaving because they are in front of or behind a camera? Do people just act different with a lens in their face? 

Innovative peopole are looking towards the future and thinking how they can use these concepts in new ways. Perhaps integrateing one or more of these technologies into one wil make implementation that much more seemless.

Does that mean that, as technology progresses and becomes more and more woven into our lives, officers will be that much more effective?

If its true that using technology in the correct way assists law enforcement in the positive, is there a limit? Where is that breaking point? And what happens if we cross that?

Stay safe out there ... and remember, recharge your batteries.

Full disclosure, I have not seen the referenced animated show. From the clips of what the YouTube video provided it doens't look like my cup of tea.

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