Seeing the Coming World

Bionic Glasses

British researchers are developing a pair of "bionic" glasses that will allow those with certain kinds of near-blindness to see better.  The glasses are still in the developmental stage, and the news posting in the Telegraph (here) doesn't indicate when they will be available to the public.  When they do become available  they are evidently going to allow some blind folks to navigate their world without a seeing eye dog—at a fraction of the cost of a dog.

In itself, this is a great development and will improve the quality of life for millions of people.  More largely, it is but one more tiny step toward the fundamental changes in health care that are coming in the next few decades.  We are already far healthier today (those of us who can afford to be) than ever before, and medical science is chipping away with exponentially increasing effectiveness at disabilities that have been with us since forever.