Night Vision Contact Lenses and Osama bin Laden
When we think about the future of vision technology, science fiction and comic books often bait our imaginations. In 50 years will we attain the Robocop-like overlay of information on the world around us, or Superman’s ability to see through walls? After all we already have the ability to see in the dead of night using night vision goggles.
And now, rumors are circulating that night vision technology has been taken to the next level. At the Kit Up blog on Military.com, which discusses military gear and equipment, the seeds of speculation have been sown that the operatives who captured Osama bin Laden were using “cat vision” or night vision contact lenses.
If this rumor has any truth to it, then it definitely crosses the dividing line between an interesting vision technology and an awesome vision technology. That division lies in the human-machine interface. Using an augmented reality app on your phone has many interesting applications but when the information becomes an extension of our bodies, that’s the future that science fiction has lead us to expect.
If they are for real, these contact lenses would likely be powered by magnetic induction. The person putting on the contact lenses would place a gel with a strong magnetic on the eyelids and the lenses would get charged every time the wearer blinked.
Sadly for fan boys and girls though, even if these contact lenses are 100 percent real, they still have a long slog to make from being top of the line military technology to being fashion contact lenses you could pick up from your local eye doctor. Still, we can dream can’t we?
