Putting the “Augmented Reality” Back Into the AARP
The retirement of the Baby Boomers in the U.S., Europe and Japan will undoubtedly bring about a revolution in industrial design.
From bottle caps to stairs, from cars to medical devices, there really isn’t any aspect of modern life that won’t be transformed by the needs of this increasingly frail but nonetheless influential (read wealthy) demographic segment.
In fact, I suspect the graying of the Greatest Generation may even bring about a revaluation of immigration and labor policies to say nothing of organ farming and social welfare.
However, we are here to discuss a far more sexy question: augmented reality.
I had long thought that while the elderly would push for innovations in robotics and the (prolonged) life sciences, the realm of digital simulation was entirely that of the young. In other words, I left it to the Gameboys and PSP’s of the world to bring about the next enlightenment: the global dissemination of windows that open up to a virtual (yet shared and highly structured) world.
Well, I was wrong. The elderly don’t just suffer from mobility or physio-mechanical limitations, they also, critically, begin to lose their senses: primarily, hearing and vision.
In other words, the old have everything to gain from devices that allow them to perceive the world, albeit through artificial means, long past the point where their biological sensors are no longer firing at adequate levels.
What’s more, this demand could very well transform the meaning of handicapped.
For the last two years, I have been working with a friend on a science-fiction story about many of the topics broached above. In recent months, I’d added a thread to the storyline involving the handicapped — arguing that those who lack mobility and sensory perception would have the most to gain from (and, thus, be the first to migrate to) a virtual existence.
But, with all due respect to the legal and cultural identity of the disabled, being handicapped looks to be the future of a great many first world citizens — and they’re unlikely to see themselves in the same light as those with a congenital physical liability. More likely than not, they’ll seek a solution to their “personal” problems through the free market.
Let the age of augmented reality begin!