Co-founder Nootrobox Michael Brandt wrote an article about why Apple AirPods wireless headphones is “consumer implants” first generation and suggested how the device will help to extend human capabilities in the future. VC leads the journalist.
New AirPods headphones is not headphones, and ear implants. Having lost the wires, they were so inconspicuous that when they are worn, you can forget about them just like glasses.
For Apple this is not just a sequential evolution of one of the products, but the paradigm shift, with the result that in the future the line between human and computer will be erased.
Wearing by default
At first glance, seem common AirPods wireless headphones. They are used similarly: to call and listen to music. But more interesting is what happens to them when they are not used.
Without clumsy wires that constantly clings to clothes, door handles, backpack and the like leads us to stop these inconveniences, we have no desire to get the headphones. They do not interfere with us: we don’t use them, but do not remove.
AirPods are wearing by default, unlike the traditional earphones, which are cleared by default. Critics accuse Apple product that they won’t get lost if they are removed. But what if you don’t want to take them off?
Internet, built-in ear
When you are expecting an important message during a meeting, you don’t need to constantly check your phone as soon as it comes, you immediately read it in your ear. Or, for example, another situation: you are having dinner with a friend and the speaker whispers: “Following a meeting in 10 minutes”. The information is obtained, and you do not even have time to blink.
Unlike vision, hearing has no direction. The eye can look at a single object: we can not simultaneously write the message and maintain eye contact. But when you listen, you do not need to send the ears to the sound source.
You can listen to music on the radio and hear what your friend says. Unlike the vision, we immediately perceive multiple sound channels, so the audio less annoying than the visual.
The headphone Apple AirPods and points of Google Glass have something in common. But the device from Google was created for a passive receiving of information through the visual channel, and Apple has determined that, for these purposes, more suitable audio.
And don’t forget that the device has a microphone. Of course, in the future we may be able to say something like “Siri, call Uber”. But this is not the most creative use of the device — I’m sure soon he will be new opportunities and scope, which we do not yet suspect. In the end, when Apple introduced the first iPhone, nobody knew that there will be the app Snapchat.
Imagine the recognition of keywords. For example, you say: “Great idea, Rebecca! You need to create a reminder: don’t want to forget about the call to Adam,” and then a reminder is automatically created.
Or the device will whisper the interesting facts, depending on what you are talking about, or buzz every time you utter junk words like “um”, “well” or “as if”.
Making AirPods in a winner is the fact that the device relies on the entire Apple ecosystem. So we will have more intelligent and interesting Siri, we have an interesting model of interaction using the Watch as a controller, and we will see more applications that we can not yet even imagine. AirPods is not just headphones, but the entire Internet is built into the ear.
The following platform: people
Continuous use of the devices is not something new. People with hearing impairment daily wear special devices, removing them only at night or for battery replacement.
The technology was developed, cheaper and attractive to millions of people: they now the ear is placed a real computer. And pretty soon, when implants will be able to get energy from blood sugar, we don’t even need batteries.
We predicted that over time people will become the next platform, and every year we find more and more evidence of our forecast. Ranging from nootropics and sleep trackers, and ending ear implants, we see the development of affordable products which help us painlessly to enhance our biological capabilities. Devices are becoming smaller, more personalized and more compatible with our bodies that turns us into the best version of themselves.
Which implant will be the next popular device? I think it will be a consumer product for the regular blood test that measures cholesterol, glucose, ketone bodies and other biomarkers.
The value of such a device will be that it will allow us to determine how diet and environment affect our body in the short and long term. In addition, it will help you recognize the disease in its early stages.
Similar technologies already exist for people suffering from diabetes. This is a special patch with a microchip that allows you to control the level of sugar in the blood. I recently ordered this device from the UK.
While it is very expensive and its capabilities are limited. But very soon we will see more cheap and easy to use consumer version. I think it will happen in the next three years. But the fact that Apple launched the first generation of consumer ear implants is a very important event both for me and for all biohackers.
