Smart head on old shoulders
New Polaris patent for a smart crash helmet
Lucy England
So the world has gone smart. Whether we like it or not everything around us is now smart or on its way to being - apart from the cat that is (although he's smart in a totally different way). In the kitchen our white goods are smart, our utilities meters are talking to us, and our TVs positively have a mind of their own. Outside our cars wrestle with us to control our driving, and apps rule our parking. The incremental, and seemingly unstoppable smart-creep, is well and truly on, and heading very rapidly into every area of our lives. Is this something you welcome or does it scare you just a tiny bit?
Well, not to be out done, Polaris has leaped into the fray with a blinder – heading to the top of the tree, or the top of the rider at least, with a patent for a smart motorcycle crash helmet.
Like the watch which tells you whether you have had enough sleep and exercise, the proposed helmet could tell you when you are too tired to ride.
The new helmet would potentially contain sensors to read your biometrics, GPS, electronic components, communications equipment, bluetooth, cameras etc... It could have a fatigue monitoring system which would track your head position – so no nodding off. It would note how much you were accelerating and keep an eye on your vitals. The plan is to keep a check on you and see how tired you are and how you're functioning, and if you aren't totally on point, then the helmet would start to warn you about yourself! And it could eventually go further...if you don't respond snappily enough, the helmet could actually interface with your bike and take matters into its own hands, and slow you down.
Now, just raising this for debate, but isn't the object of growing up to become independent and self actualised? Do we want to hand over our autonomy to a monitoring system which can overrule us? Or, conversely, does it make sense to have ourselves checked and monitored, in case we are too tired to know it ourselves? There is an argument to say that one can get exhausted, dehydrated, and generally frazzled and not know what we are doing, and become irrational, in which case a big brother might be helpful. But isn't part of being a human and an adult about making our own sensible choices and about feeling responsible for ourselves and if we can't, and there are consequences, then taking them on the chin? Is an anodyne world where we are protected from ourselves and don't make our own decisions anymore, rather dangerous for the future of humanity? What do you think?
Your opinion would be valued here – not that we can stop the march of time – but are you a willing participant in all this, or are you being dragged, kicking and screaming into the smart future? Are you rushing out to buy the helmet as soon as you can, or keeping your old tin lid for as long as you are allowed?
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