Is this the future of the Internet? Google Labs has unveiled “Project Glass”: virtual reality eyeglasses that display information such as walking directions, weather forecasts, and messages from friends. Built-in microphones let you command the Internet-linked glasses by speaking, creating a smartphone you can wear. No keyboard or laptop computer needed.
In other technology news, Samsung is developing a transparent LCD screen that could turn any window into a display or touchscreen. They have tested their invention on vending machines in Boston, where the clear glass on the machine’s windows can advertise a product and display nutrition information. Bathroom mirrors and home windows could be next.
Meanwhile, engineers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have developed technology that embeds a highway with electric coils. They can transfer power to similar coils mounted under cars. The result would be a highway that charges your car while you drive it. You’d never have to go to a gas station again.
And Toshiba is working on a 3D television that doesn’t need special glasses. The TV uses a built-in camera and facial recognition software to lock onto your eyes and follow them as they move. Up to nine people can watch the screen at once. The set is already on sale in Japan and Germany.
In a world of such fast-paced, technologically-driven change, why is Maundy Thursday still relevant? Because the basic problem we face hasn’t changed in 20 centuries. In The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis states that pride is that sin by which “a creature . . . tries to set up on its own, to exist for itself. . . . From the moment a creature becomes aware of God as God and of itself as self, the terrible alternative of choosing God or self for the center is opened to it. This sin is committed daily by young children and ignorant peasants as well as by sophisticated persons, by solitaries no less than by those who live in society: it is the fall in every individual life, and in each day of each individual life, the basic sin behind all particular sins.”
On this day in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus chose God. He chose to bear our sin on his sinless heart. He chose to be separated from his holy Father so we could be reunited with our Maker and Lord. His declaration is recorded in Scripture so we can make it our own: “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
Technology can change our culture, but his prayer will change your heart.
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