Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1996
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You use my eyes and I'll use yours
EVER since the invention of television, we seem to have had a fixation for a windows mode of viewing. While reasonably adequate for entertainment, it is severely limiting for IT, and especially portable devices. The arrival of the liquid crystal display has made the limitations even more obvious: a contrast ratio and brightness a fraction of the cathode ray tube, severe washout in bright sunlight, poor or zero operation at low temperatures, slow response times and numerous optical artefacts. Perhaps it's time for a new technology.

Why do we take a beam of electrons and illuminate a panel that we then view at a distance? Why not take a beam of photons and inject it directly into the eye to create a pure image on our retina? All the intermediate stages of conversion, from electron bombardment to phosphor excitation and photon generation, serve only to detract from the efficiency and final quality. Why do it that way when it is possible to take over the entire visual cortex and create a sense of being somewhere else, real or artificial?

It is reasonable to suppose that a laser-based projection system could be mounted on a contact lens or spectacle frame. However, it turns out that this dream of an active contact lens is beyond today's technology. The power supply presents problems, and the circuit lithography (printing) required is just not fine enough - yet. But a head-mounted device is feasible. We therefore have in prospect new windows into information worlds without the burden of large boxes of technology.

We are extremely perceptive and very conscious of facial expression and eye contact

With computers that talk to us, we might now perceive a world where they share our visual field in much the same way that The Terminator was able to view real-world images and digital readouts simultaneously. As a species, we have an amazing ability to "multitask"; reading a newspaper while listening to the radio is perhaps one of the most common examples. In complete contrast, television demands our attention and is an ideal instrument of distraction. Curiously, it would appear that we have an innate ability to live in more than one world at once through multiple visual and acoustic inputs. Information from the real world can enter one eye and one ear while information from computer-generated worlds takes over the remaining organs.

Now we come to the problem of protocol, convention and what is acceptable. We are extremely perceptive and very conscious of facial expression and eye contact. If, when I look at you, I can see an animated graph, my favourite TV programme, or a page of text hovering in free space above your head, will we still be able to communicate? This might be tricky if the data is your CV, medical record, or a briefing on your company and your activities.

The smallest mobile telephones weigh just 3.1 ounces, and our world is poised to move away from the PC towards network computing. There is also growing enthusiasm for body-worn computers and communicators. Put all these together with a head-mounted projector, constructed from lasers the size of a salt crystal, and we have in prospect a very different world. But it doesn't stop there, for with micro-miniature projectors come micro-miniature cameras and the possibility of shared worlds. At that point, what I see, you see, and what I read, you read, and vice versa.

Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is:
http://cochrane.org.uk