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comment by bioemerl
bioemerl  ·  3106 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Body mod that gives you the ability to sense North

That music was horrible.

Also your phone probably already has a GPS and a manometer to show you north.





Ay-Nawn  ·  3105 days ago  ·  link  ·  

To put it in context:

What is orientating yourself using the sun's position to a compass?

What is a compass to a GPS in your phone?

What is a GPS in your phone to an integrated sense on your very own self?

bioemerl  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

A compass is more precise than the sun.

A GPS gives location along with lots of other detail and is normally included with a map giving you your exact position, and the direction for you to go to get somewhere.

This one doesn't really provide any benefit over the GPS, does it? Outside of the "poetic" stuff about "knowing your place in the world~" it's a device that gives little value for high cost.

Ay-Nawn  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The analogies were with regard to ease of use with proximity to the user. It's not about the detail, it's not about the exact direction. It's mere orientation for daily use designed to be as inherent as smell. It's simple and alternative. It's not meant to be the end-all-be-all of navigation.

Is it high cost? Of course it is, it's a small pioneering device.

Is it highly practical? Depends who you talk to. In the "First World," probably not.

On the other hand, its implications with regard to cohesion with the brain is the interesting part. It serves as another consistent point of data for encoding interactions around you.

byonic  ·  3106 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Of course I could always find north if I really wanted to seek it out.

I think the cool part about this being attached to your body is that you'll always have that sense of where it is. I'm imagining that eventually you would always have a sense of your place in the world.

user-inactivated  ·  3106 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There a tribe somewhere the members of which always know where north and south are. They achieved it through the way they orientate within the language. They don't say "behind you" or "on your left": they use absolute angular positioning to determine towards which end of the world the object is. Basically, their brain is being wired to orientate pole-wise from the very infancy.

Don't listen to bioemerl: he's a grump if I've ever seen one. Extending one's capabilities is cool, especially so if it pertains to survival skills.