(A Senior Executive and attorney discuss important technological advances at the Amen Corner of the Willow Bar. Photo Socotra).

Monday. The skies were gray, and fritzed pensively through the morning. I had a load of Goodwill crap- stuff I had purchased, without memory, and dropped it off on the way to work. Despite the rain, it was time to get the sticky yellow pollen off the Panzer, and see how bad the dent on the liftgate really was.

The first dent is sort of liberating. The vehicle is still shiny, most places, but now it is mine, complete with screw-ups.

I decided to go to Willow. The Tigers are in town this week for a rare inter-league appearance, and there is the real possibility of actually going to a game. Grant-the-Realtor was scheduled for Tuesday evening with a contractor to replace the vanities in the baths, and the Maids, for that matter, during the day.

So, Monday was the off night until the end of the week and I went for it.

So did the Johns- with and without- and Old Jim, of course, and my boss and her boss and Senior Executive Jeff and in a surprise Monday appearance, Liz-with-an-S stopped by to brighten a gray day.

There was not a single mention of politics, the hearings coming up, the coming train-wreck (name your train) or Syria or anything else recent. Given the all-star line-up at the bar, I slipped my iPad out of my back-back and clicked a couple pics, including the exotic Sabrina the Gypsy behind the bar.

“Good thing people don’t mind you doing that,” growled Jim. “You know the next big thing is about here.”

“You mean the Chinese Army hacking all our computer shit?”

“No, the fact that we are all going paparazzi.” I looked at him, puzzled.

“What do you mean? I just take pictures of food and the people at the Amen Corner.”

“That may be OK, but there is a time coming when everything is going to be imaged, wherever you are.”

“We knew public surveillance cameras were going to be coming all over,” said John-with, trying desperately to complete a competing anecdote about the five top prep schools in the nation, one of which he was a proud alumni, and who actually run the world, just like the Illuminati.

“My school has landscape design by Frederick Law Olmstead.”

“Yeah, yeah. But increased surveillance just makes sense after Boston.”

Jim did not want to talk about the various cradles of WASP power. He was more interested in the technology. “Google Glass,” he said firmly and put his long neck Bud on the bar firmly. “It is a pair of glasses that you can wear all the time, and which can do everything your smart phone can do.”

“So, let me get this straight. A pair of glasses that takes pictures? So what. We already carry around cameras on our phones.”

“No, Glass is more like a wearable smartphone. It is a “hands-free” application that is worn around the head, just like normal glasses.”

I pulled out my iPad and Googled it, clicking on the “images” tab. There were dozens of pictures of a decidedly geekie device on an ugly wire frame. I passed the iPad down the bar. “They look stupid,” I said. “And that wearable computer shit has been around forever. The Army used to boast that every solider would be a sensor.”

“If this was an idea, or a budget gimmick, that would be one thing. These are here, now, just about to hit the market. And they will not look stupid. They are working with the high-end frame manufacturers. You will be able to wear a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers and no one will know you are taping and recording their every move.”

“That sounds creepie. Plus, it will end most bar-room discussions, at least the interesting ones.”

“You aren’t getting it,” said Jon-without in his quiet manner. “This takes everything to the next level. It won’t be cell-phones or texting while driving. It will be everything all the time, people watching videos, making videos, we will be so in the moment all the time that we won’t really be here at all.”

“That ought to be illegal,” I said. “I mean the driving part. I can’t imagine wanting to record real life. I think that is why the video camera died. Who has the time.”

Liz-S shook her fine mane of chestnut hair. “No, and that is not all. Google is already in preliminary production for an operating system that drives your car, all by itself. The technology is being proven now.”

“Does it park the car, too? That could enable me to spend a lot more time here.”

(Some of the really cool apps that no one is going to be able to live without this year. Look out. Photo Google via High-Tech Post.com)

“Las Vegas has already banned them. The capability is so far beyond card counting that the House may not always have the odds on its side.”

“Wait, so this is just about taking capabilities that exist now and packaging them in a different manner?”

“That is the future, Vic. It doesn’t just appear full-blown from the forehead of Zeus. It is all how it is packaged, and then how it changes how we act. These trial versions are obvious. They will not be obvious when they are actually on the market. You will not know who you are talking to, ever.”

I took a picture of Jim as he glowered at me from the apex of the Amen Corner. “So when will the world and everything in it change. Not a date, but generally?” I asked.

Liz-S said “They plan to introduce them this year, and the prediction is that we will all be wearing them soon.”

“Well, this is going to distract drivers, upend relationships and strip people of what little privacy they still have in public.”

“Right. What was your point?”

I waved at Sabrina. I knew the car was not going to drive me home, but another glass of happy hour white seemed suddenly like an excellent idea.

“Google takes the attitude that people should have nothing to hide from intrusive technology,” continued Liz-S, and as an attorney, I had to weigh her words carefully.

“So, “ I said. “What they say is if you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place?”

“Fuck that,” said old Jim.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com