I’ve always been interested in computers, and it’s only natural for someone with interest in computers to imagine, “What if I didn’t have to hunch over a rectangular box? What if I could use a computer without isolating myself from the world and my surroundings?”

I see humanity’s current use of technology as fundamentally immature. We’re on the way to something greater. Something more intuitive, less obtrusive, and more empowering.

I read a lot of sci-fi as a kid. A “cyborg” future, a future in which computers become part of our environment, part of our attire, or even part of our bodies, always seemed inevitable to me. The question wasn’t “if” but “when.”

I’ve observed over the past decade as everyone has been slowly turned into unwitting cyborgs.

In 2007, carrying my Dopod PDA was at best seen as an oddity, at worse as aberrant behavior. In just a few short years the situation has reversed. The person still carrying a dumb-phone is the aberration, and pocketable computers (i.e. smartphones) have become the norm.

But it doesn’t take much introspection to realize that the smartphone is definitely not the ultimate form of personal computing. With smartphones, people spend their time disconnected from their surroundings, engaged in momentarily stimulating trivialities. The smartphone, to the extent that it provides maps and keeps us in contact with each other, is weakly enhancing. It’s not very empowering, and to me it doesn’t feel like it’s making us better humans.

So, after listening to an interview with Thad Starner, and seeing his setup, I’ve decided to give wearable (or, preferably, “walkable”) computing another try.

I have some ideas for the kinds of software I would want to use on such a device, and it’s finally within my means to acquire some of the parts.

I’ll be chronicling my thoughts and impressions here as I continue in this project. I am working mostly in isolation, so I’m putting my thoughts out there as much for my own emotional well-being as for the potential for constructive interaction.

I dreamt of becoming a cyborg, now I’m going to give it a try.