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Seriously. I want to be a wired human.
Not in the Borg sense, with electronics embedded in my body. That would be crazy-making.
What I want -- and I have been dreaming about this for several years -- is a way to do everything I already do on my computer while I am outside walking in the woods.
No, really! I want to be able to walk away from my computer, and still be able to access the net.
I want to be able to read BoingBoing and Common Dreams on the road. I want to write blog entries on LJ while walking in the woods. I want to watch TV and movies while on Walkabout. I want to make video conference calls from anywhere. I want to read and write emails while walking down the sidewalk. I want to be able to write, edit, and manipulate text, code, and graphics wherever there is a wireless connection. I want to play games in bed. I want to read novels while crossing the continent.
In short: I want to stop being a "mouse potato."
I first started thinking about this when I was on Walkabout in Northern Canada in 2003. I lost about 100 lbs. that summer when I walked away from my sedentary IT desk job. It was easy to get in great shape, when you're walking 6-8 hours a day.
Problem is, I am a computer geek. How do I make a living if I am walking 8 hours a day?
My Walkabout unfortunately ended when I ran out of money, and couldn't find a way to keep going without stopping to get a job (which Immigration Canada refused to let me get a work visa to do).
It occurs to me that, if I had a way to be the kind of cyborg that I dream of, I could make decent money doing it.
I am most temperamentally suited to doing work that involves information manipulation. I take in data, process it, and output it. I synthesize and massage data. I write and edit text, create graphics, video. I dabble in code.
In my professional life, I've been a webmaster, HTML coder, XML editor, CD-ROM editor, Flash editor, and paid opinion columnist. I've also done a lot of freelance editing, like my many contributions to Wikipedia, and a prolific amount of writing.
But all of this involves taking information into my brain, processing it, and outputting it. Body (mostly) not required.
I can easily sit in front of a computer for 8 hours. I've done a lot of it in my life. Today, I spent 6 hours buried in a RTS game. I get into flow in front of the computer.
It's really just an extension of the voracious book reading that started when I was a small child. I get into that mental zone, where my mind is churning through information, and my body just sits there.
What I discovered when I was on Walkabout is that I could put my body on autopilot while walking, and turn inward. I could cover dozens of kilometers without even realizing it, as long as the road ahead was clear and level. I didn't have to stress about actually doing exercise, because it just happened.
So what I want is to combine these two worlds of mine: the world of the computer, where I zone into the data stream for hours on end, and the walking aspect, where I put my body on autopilot.
I could easily make a living, if I were able to do this -- as a technical communicator, writer, editor, coder.
And I'd be a lot thinner, and healthier.
So what would I need in order to make this happen?
First, a wearable, mobile computer. Something small, and lightweight, with a long battery life, and the ability to connect wirelessly to the net, and wirelessly to peripherals.
This isn't so far-fetched: I'm right now sitting at a computer that is connected to the net via wireless. There's nothing to stop me from taking a laptop anywhere in the region, and still be able to get high-speed Internet. This part of my dream has already arrived.
And making the computer small isn't a problem, either. Cell phones, iPods, iPhones, even wristwatches have become ridiculously powerful computing machines. A computer small enough to wear isn't unthinkable.
Battery lives are getting longer and longer, and as long as I could bring a couple of battery replacements with me, it's totally feasible to able to work 8 hours a day while walking.
And connecting peripherals to a computer wirelessly is child's play with Bluetooth.
So what about an input display? It would have to be a way for me to look at a computer display, while also being able to see the road ahead of me at the same time -- to see through the display, while still being able to see the computer screen. Kind of like this Augmented Reality (AR) military display is what I have been imagining. This would have been so cool to have while walking down the Alaska Highway.
There's a company in Redmond, WA, called Microvision, that specializes in hands-free, heads-up and wearable displays. Their biggest client is the U.S. military, but so what. Some of the best inventions of this era -- like computers, and the Internet -- came out of military research. And Microvision is getting ready to move into the consumer market, with eyeglasses displays. And these could easily be made to connect with the computer over Bluetooth.
The trickiest part is data input. Instead of a traditional keyboard, I envision something like a keyer. Maybe a glove to wear, that different hand motions send signals to the computer, a la Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Or something done with rings on the fingers. There was, until last year, a remarkable product on the market called The Twiddler, which some users claimed enabled them to type 120 wpm one-handed, and manipulate a joystick/mouse. Unfortunately, that product is no longer on the market, and I have not yet found a similar product. Of course, it would also have to be Bluetooth-enabled.
The other requirement for such a system would require that it be rugged, and water-resistant. I live in a wet climate, between Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA. This is certainly do-able, with current technology.
The holy grail of this system would be a kinetic energy capture, that used my body's walking motion to power the system and recharge the batteries, but that is probably farther ahead in the future. For now, I'd be happy with regular rechargeable batteries.
So how do I make this dream a reality? How long do I have to wait for this cyborg ability to arrive on the consumer market? Will I live that long, at 400 lbs.?
Surely there is a market for the kind of system I envision! In a culture where obesity is rampant, and more and more information workers are sitting in front of a keyboard all day getting fatter and fatter (like me), a way to keep the body exercising while doing information work would be a consumer hit. I know it would!
Unfortunately, I don't have the technical know-how to make such a system myself (though it does appear to be possible), and I don't have the funds to have something like this custom made.
*sigh* I wish I could win the lottery to make this happen.
Dreaming, dreaming...
Not in the Borg sense, with electronics embedded in my body. That would be crazy-making.
What I want -- and I have been dreaming about this for several years -- is a way to do everything I already do on my computer while I am outside walking in the woods.
No, really! I want to be able to walk away from my computer, and still be able to access the net.
I want to be able to read BoingBoing and Common Dreams on the road. I want to write blog entries on LJ while walking in the woods. I want to watch TV and movies while on Walkabout. I want to make video conference calls from anywhere. I want to read and write emails while walking down the sidewalk. I want to be able to write, edit, and manipulate text, code, and graphics wherever there is a wireless connection. I want to play games in bed. I want to read novels while crossing the continent.
In short: I want to stop being a "mouse potato."
I first started thinking about this when I was on Walkabout in Northern Canada in 2003. I lost about 100 lbs. that summer when I walked away from my sedentary IT desk job. It was easy to get in great shape, when you're walking 6-8 hours a day.
Problem is, I am a computer geek. How do I make a living if I am walking 8 hours a day?
My Walkabout unfortunately ended when I ran out of money, and couldn't find a way to keep going without stopping to get a job (which Immigration Canada refused to let me get a work visa to do).
It occurs to me that, if I had a way to be the kind of cyborg that I dream of, I could make decent money doing it.
I am most temperamentally suited to doing work that involves information manipulation. I take in data, process it, and output it. I synthesize and massage data. I write and edit text, create graphics, video. I dabble in code.
In my professional life, I've been a webmaster, HTML coder, XML editor, CD-ROM editor, Flash editor, and paid opinion columnist. I've also done a lot of freelance editing, like my many contributions to Wikipedia, and a prolific amount of writing.
But all of this involves taking information into my brain, processing it, and outputting it. Body (mostly) not required.
I can easily sit in front of a computer for 8 hours. I've done a lot of it in my life. Today, I spent 6 hours buried in a RTS game. I get into flow in front of the computer.
It's really just an extension of the voracious book reading that started when I was a small child. I get into that mental zone, where my mind is churning through information, and my body just sits there.
What I discovered when I was on Walkabout is that I could put my body on autopilot while walking, and turn inward. I could cover dozens of kilometers without even realizing it, as long as the road ahead was clear and level. I didn't have to stress about actually doing exercise, because it just happened.
So what I want is to combine these two worlds of mine: the world of the computer, where I zone into the data stream for hours on end, and the walking aspect, where I put my body on autopilot.
I could easily make a living, if I were able to do this -- as a technical communicator, writer, editor, coder.
And I'd be a lot thinner, and healthier.
So what would I need in order to make this happen?
First, a wearable, mobile computer. Something small, and lightweight, with a long battery life, and the ability to connect wirelessly to the net, and wirelessly to peripherals.
This isn't so far-fetched: I'm right now sitting at a computer that is connected to the net via wireless. There's nothing to stop me from taking a laptop anywhere in the region, and still be able to get high-speed Internet. This part of my dream has already arrived.
And making the computer small isn't a problem, either. Cell phones, iPods, iPhones, even wristwatches have become ridiculously powerful computing machines. A computer small enough to wear isn't unthinkable.
Battery lives are getting longer and longer, and as long as I could bring a couple of battery replacements with me, it's totally feasible to able to work 8 hours a day while walking.
And connecting peripherals to a computer wirelessly is child's play with Bluetooth.
So what about an input display? It would have to be a way for me to look at a computer display, while also being able to see the road ahead of me at the same time -- to see through the display, while still being able to see the computer screen. Kind of like this Augmented Reality (AR) military display is what I have been imagining. This would have been so cool to have while walking down the Alaska Highway.
There's a company in Redmond, WA, called Microvision, that specializes in hands-free, heads-up and wearable displays. Their biggest client is the U.S. military, but so what. Some of the best inventions of this era -- like computers, and the Internet -- came out of military research. And Microvision is getting ready to move into the consumer market, with eyeglasses displays. And these could easily be made to connect with the computer over Bluetooth.
The trickiest part is data input. Instead of a traditional keyboard, I envision something like a keyer. Maybe a glove to wear, that different hand motions send signals to the computer, a la Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Or something done with rings on the fingers. There was, until last year, a remarkable product on the market called The Twiddler, which some users claimed enabled them to type 120 wpm one-handed, and manipulate a joystick/mouse. Unfortunately, that product is no longer on the market, and I have not yet found a similar product. Of course, it would also have to be Bluetooth-enabled.
The other requirement for such a system would require that it be rugged, and water-resistant. I live in a wet climate, between Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA. This is certainly do-able, with current technology.
The holy grail of this system would be a kinetic energy capture, that used my body's walking motion to power the system and recharge the batteries, but that is probably farther ahead in the future. For now, I'd be happy with regular rechargeable batteries.
So how do I make this dream a reality? How long do I have to wait for this cyborg ability to arrive on the consumer market? Will I live that long, at 400 lbs.?
Surely there is a market for the kind of system I envision! In a culture where obesity is rampant, and more and more information workers are sitting in front of a keyboard all day getting fatter and fatter (like me), a way to keep the body exercising while doing information work would be a consumer hit. I know it would!
Unfortunately, I don't have the technical know-how to make such a system myself (though it does appear to be possible), and I don't have the funds to have something like this custom made.
*sigh* I wish I could win the lottery to make this happen.
Dreaming, dreaming...
