In "How to Build a Self-Improving Company with AI" in the section about "Make Everything Legible to AI" Tom Blomfield says at around minute 8:14 "I would make the entire organization legible to AI...you've got to record everything." In episode 256 of Peter H. Diamandis' Moonshots, Google's audio glasses are discussed. Peter begins by mentioning the elephant in the room: "It's got forward-looking cameras, but you're not seeing words or images on the screen. You're being spoken to by your AI...I think that being present in life has just been cooked as well. I mean, imagine you're walking around and you're not talking to your wife, your girlfriend, your kids. You're just having the agent whispering to you all the time."

I think the R.E.C.O.N.C.I.L.I.A.T.I.O.N framework will come in handy in the era of audio glasses. It is interesting that the first item in a Cottonwood Psychology article titled "11 subtle ways people show respect without saying a word" is that they "They Put Their Phone Away Around You". In an era where audio glasses will be the norm rather than the exception, will taking off our audio glasses be a way to show respect? "When someone sets their phone face down or out of reach, they are telling you that you matter more than their notifications. They are choosing being fully present. In a world where everyone is “always on,” that choice is powerful." The next sentences illustrates Empathy (or lack of): "Think about how you feel when a friend keeps glancing at their screen while you talk. You probably feel a little less important. The opposite is true when they ignore their phone and stay with you in the moment." Salim Ismail notes: "we're moving to that point where human computer interaction becomes continuous and becomes an ambient layer that's just ongoing and I think that is the bigger story here because that will kind of just continue to play out as we merge with technology. Already we pick up our phones 80,000 times a day. This just continues that..."

When someone is wearing audio glasses with an AI agent whispering in their ear, will they be able to hold eye contact? The Cottonwood Psychology article lists holding "Steady, Comfortable Eye Contact" as a sign of respect. Of course one has to be empathetic to cultural norms regarding eye contact, because in some cultures (like many in Africa) too much eye contact is a sign of aggression while in other cultures too little eye contact is considered suspect or even disrespectful. I think this will apply to audio glasses. Some cultures, countries or communities will reject the wearing of audio glasses in certain situations while others will require them to be worn. Dave Blundin raises important points: "This is where society is going to have a huge rift because the punching in the face was a very real thing last time Google went down this path and they are trying to own the consumer and be a consumerfriendly brand. But if they roll out a product where half of society is walking around recording everything all day long and the other half is offended by that then that's going to be a major problem and they're stuck...it's very easy to live in your echo chamber especially here in Silicon
Valley or in Cambridge but you got to walk around Mississippi or walk around Nebraska to really understand how big a deal this is going to be."

Empathy, for both those enthusiastic about these glasses and for those against the glasses will be required.

If (when?) Afrogoth ventures into the wearable glasses market, not only will the glasses need to have the RECONCILIATION framework embedded into them (from development to use) but, of course, they will also need to be quiet stylish! Enjoy these inspirational, artistic glasses by the gifted Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru.