Have a sec for tech

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ngM0LHxuU

I just saw this advert for what I heard about awhile back 

Useful for the Japanese Olympics

But supposedly it will be with us much earlier 

A lot of people have complained about the direction the advert took 

But I am not 

For me it is one of those borderline techs

It could be useful but could be useless 

We must think 

Why create a translation device in the first place 

And we already have translation devices

Aka our brains

And for a product supposedly about helping people connect it didn't show that in the ad

Because a translator is not for connecting its for demands wants and whims 

When you learn a language you learn the history

The concepts

And contextualisation of what at first are foreign sounds

How good you are in the language is down to your determination 

I've always said tech without soul is a dangerous thing 

The advert clearly shows who this product is for

Tourists 

With the fondness due to their level in the language for an infantile relationship

It also brushed over its actual functions 

Like does it need wifi 

How much battery power does it have 

How many languages is it linked with

How good is its voice recognition 

Is it google translate but portable 

Also it alluded to but brushed off the other important part of active language 

The listening part 

The big fail of guidebooks in the past 

What's the point of asking questions if you don't know what answer to expect and cannot understand the answer anyway

Also can it hear a multitude of voices 

Then there is the question of how it will be used 

Can it block out offensive words 

Imagine a bunch of drunk uncultured fools who are too lazy ignorant and many other things shout obscenities but you don't know what they are saying so you ignore it but now

now with this device and whereas before you know what they are saying 

You didn't ask for this 

True this could happen without the translator but those other people are either natives or will know enough of the language to understand your discontent 

Also can it interpret computer voices such as the other device wearers 

Would it change ungrammatical sentences and make them understood 

Can it only understand people talking in their first language 

 

Would it further alienate journey goers into an easier distinction of tourist and traveler 

How wouldn't that device with the mechanical voice not make you are target for theives and such

Also another facet to this device is 

Will it change the world 

Could it 

Would it 

It could change certain professions or professional spaces 

Such as airports with airport staff given these devices 

Or the police for foolish tourists

Another thing it didn't allude to was the price 

How much would it cost and is it waterproof and is it made of durable stuff 

Will it affect other professions such as teaching will it stop students wanting to learn and government funding 

Will they be banned in certain areas outside of tourist zones

Will there be as I said before targeting of people with the device for their property of their presence 

Which will defeat the purpose of a translation device 

My verdict is no it won't have such a far reaching impact but the gimmick has some bigger issues and goals behind it 

Such as skipping journeys for goals 

It could be the start of the building of bridges 

It could get us to think about language and culture and if they can exist without one another 

Also do we want that world

Is it or could it be the first step in diminishing the idea of a global language and usher in wearable tech 

Could it bred a new kind of traveller and travel experience a new kind of network 

But what people must not forget 

If you are for this is that you don't have language knowledge only mimcry of such but you can just turn off the device when you no longer wish to be understood 

 

purported distorted mirror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY

i recently saw this clip and had to instantly share it ^^^

for all the ideas and thoughts broiled in talks of self and the other

we often forget that we also are the other


and with technology



we are getting closer to a place of objectively
seeing ourselves

the oldest of these is the mirror
the reflection

for if for a moment imagine a person
who has never used a mirror
never gazed upon a reflective surface
and then is shown a photograph

what would be their response to this stimuli

but that thought experiment aside
the externalized view of the self is getting rounded up
with social media sites reaping the benefit

as did kodak and its polaroid cameras before them

and video cameras putting our motion in its nakedness
giving us the eye of another
the transportation of views
allowing one to critque ones work and ones self

for imagine previous discussions surrounding arts such as
acting and singing
an article could go round in circular motion
but now with tools such as camcorcer
one can critique their movements and use it to train
in control of facial movements and mannerisms

and now we have tape recorders

etching away the chasm between what we hear and what others hear
providing evidence to the tone deaf
and putting us in the shoes of others regarding ourselves as the other

but one thing that has eluded most people
is language
for how do you put yourself in the shoes of someone not understanding your language
yes you can be their by your position of not understanding theirs

but in the video it comes from the path less taken the path of those not understanding your language
and how it sounds to them
and comments spoke out to the eeriness of it all
for how often do you step out of yourself
for many identity is made of their language
and this identity is their self

but it also leads one down the road many would not like to go
the road of the other and a loss of absolutes

perhaps this just the latest of steps for us to externally know ourselves