Yesterday I wrote, somewhat tongue in cheek, about how easy it would be for future wearable augmented reality technology to maintain the gulf between the “haves” and “have nots” of this world. In my dystopian scenario, high-tech wearables would augment the reality of economic inequality.
But suppose we could rethink the premise of augmented reality, from the ground up. Is there a way we could set it in a direction that would actually promote greater economic equality?
The largest potential power-up I can think of is in education. Perhaps inexpensive wearable devices could make it easier for high quality education to reach a greater portion of the world’s population. After all, wearable augmented reality has the potential to put teachers and students together, face-to-face, across large distances, or to simulate playful environments for learning and exploration that might be cost-prohibitive to build with laboratories of bricks and mortar.
Doesn’t the true potential of a child reside in what his or her mind can learn to do? Just as the increasing fluidity of information has helped to bring down dictatorships and repressive regimes, perhaps another leap in technology will make it possible to bring down the scourge of inadequate education.
What could possibly be more important to the world’s economy?