Don't buy AR glasses

Re:Don't buy AR glasses by neonnoodle on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @09:06AM (#50440597)

I wouldn't buy AR glasses, but also feel powerless to prevent myself from being in the reticule of those who do. When you think about what LLMs and facial recognition allow, we're entering a new conception of the public sphere and personal space/human dignity. I think it goes beyond the traditional notion of "privacy" or "public spaces" and closer to questions about moral rights over your likeness and aggregated personal information.

For instance, what if they invented "X-Ray Spex" like there used to be advertised in the back of comic books, that let you see through people's clothes. Do you have an "expectation of privacy" on a subway train against someone seeing you nude, if the technology exists to do it? I feel like similar cultural standards should apply when it comes to triangulating details about your identity from surreptitious recording devices.

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Re:Don't buy AR glasses by jasomill on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @11:55AM (#50442999)

"X-ray spex"-like technology exists, is used in airport security screening, and is not without controversy[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_X-ray#Concerns

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Re:Don't buy AR glasses by ryukoposting on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @12:29PM (#50443413)

Social norms around public space can change over long periods of time. But, to me, AR glasses appear to be a bridge too far. They're so baldly voyeuristic, even if you don't understand the technical details.

> we're entering a new conception of the public sphere and personal space/human dignity

I think the Bay Area is entering a new conception of yada yada yada. I think some folks who live here don't realize the sheer strength and scale of the reality distortion field. That which is cool in the Bay is frequently very, very uncool elsewhere.

AR glasses, both in purpose and aesthetics, are inextricable from the attitudes and politics of SV. Public opinion of SV has tanked since 2023 in a way I've never seen before.

I guess what I'm saying is this: Remember the jabra headset dorks from the 2000s? We made fun of them for being dorks. We're going to make fun of AR glasses people for being voyeurs, fascists and ICE accomplices. The social pressure against these things will be immense.

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Re:Don't buy AR glasses by neonnoodle on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @12:32PM (#50443441)

> I guess what I'm saying is this: Remember the jabra headset dorks from the 2000s? We made fun of them for being dorks.

Yeah and now people walk around with Bluetooth headsets on everywhere, 24/7. I don't live in SV (thank God) but I'm afraid that mere fashion won't be enough to shut this trend down. Some people don't care about looking like dorks, and when they wait long enough, the stigma dies down.

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Re:Don't buy AR glasses by ryukoposting on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @12:56PM (#50443736)

My point in the parent comment was that it isn't just fashion this time.

But, to my point, fashion alone was enough to stretch out the normalization of bluetooth headsets by a decade. As of 2020 or so, we were still memeing on "airpods everywhere" people, not that they could hear us.

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