The Sixth Sense

I thought that was a movie title.  I googled it and it IS a movie title - a movie about a little boy who can talk to the dead.  Well, my reaction to talking to the dead is about the same as my reaction to this gadget:

Thank you, but no.

I don't need any more information flowing into my brain than I've got right now.  I like talking to people and letting them decide what I will know about them.  I do not like gadgets or dead people who flood me with more information and force me to decide what is accurate and what is not.  I ESPECIALLY do not like being labeled before I've even opened my mouth.  

I'm pretty sure that if this idea does come onto the market - and I note that the TED talk was dated 2009, so maybe it already has - my kids and my husband will have them.  They will be flashing that thing over everyone and everything they meet, and finding out all kinds of stuff, feeling very powerful and superior.  But is that wise?

What if the information is wrong?

I'm all for simplicity.  How about, if you want people to know your interests, you get a T-shirt made that lists them.  You could color-code them for the days of the week.  Or, how about, if you have been convicted of a felony, they just brand you on the forehead with a code, like they did in the dark ages.  Then no one would need any fancy units to read your "tag".  If you're married, instead of a wedding ring, the name of your beloved could be tattooed on your ring finger, and if you get divorced, well, off goes the finger.  That way, everyone knows what your relationship status really is - it's so much harder to cover up a missing finger than it is to slide a wedding ring off at the bar.

See what I mean?  As a society, we've already tried and rejected many forms of labeling people.  Labels by skin color, labels by clothing we wear, sexual preferences declared (for men) by whether we have one earring, two earrings, or no earrings.  (I heard this last one is now out of date, however.)  How does using a really amazing, inventive piece of technology change the underlying idea?  It doesn't.  

So count me out.  I want to be free to change my labels whenever I can; even better, I don't want to have any at all.