San Francisco artist Tanya Vlach has called for engineers to design an in-eye camera for her. Since losing her real eye in a 2005 car accident, Tanya has worn a realistic acrylic prosthesis. A self-decribed "sci-fi geek," on her blog Tanya has asked for an "eye cam" that can adjust for different levels of light, and controlled by her blinking, zoom, take still photos, and stream and record video.
I say, why stop there? What about IR nightvision, Predator-like thermal vision, or even X-Ray vision?
Experts agree that the technology for an eyeball-sized camera is readily available, and indeed dozens of engineers have already responded to Tanya's request. One engineer, Roy Want of Intel, believes the technology is all here already, and went on to suggest linking the eye cam to a smart phone, which could serve as an inexpensive, readily available control terminal and relay station for Tanya's video feed.
Want also saw the potential for a system like this to serve as a personal memory back-up saying, "You'd never lose anything. You could ask it, 'Where was the last time I saw my keys?'"
We salute Tanya, and her quest for truly photographic memory.
