The Sixth Sense

This isn't about the movie about the kid who can see dead people.  This post is actually about an MIT Innovation, that, as far as I can figure, they're calling "the Sixth Sense."

This is basically a gadget that would allow you to get any information you need no matter where you are.  You can turn virtually any surface into a computer screen.  When you're shopping, information about your products will be projected right onto that product when you pick it up.  This is supposed to help you pick out the perfect product, based on criteria you've decided, etc.

It's undeniably incredible that technology has come to the point where we have objects such as this.  However, I can't help but feel wary about the idea.  If we rely on machines to make decisions for us, what will we be doing to our own minds?  Will we still be able to retain our decision-making capabilities?  Will we become so lazy from no longer having to make our own decisions for us that humans in the future will evolve to have no decision-making ability?

That might be a stretch, but I really do think it's a valid point.  We already rely on technology to do most of the work for us.  After all, very few people would pick up a dictionary and sift through it to find a word rather than just going to Dictionary.com or Merriam-Webster Online or something.  And who picks up a research book these days when Wikipedia is so readily available?

I just don't believe that we should make everything in our lives virtual.  Somethings should stay sacred.

[As an unrelated side note, this one of my major problems with Amazon's Kindle.]

For more information on the Sixth Sense, go here.