AUDIO TOOTH

December 5, 2024
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Kyle McKenzie

Is tradition being buried in the constant search of "new"? How far are we willing to go to integrate tech in our bodies?

AI, Neuralink, self-driving everything. New products are dropping faster than ever, barely tested and rushed to market without considering long-term consequences. I'm aware that a lot of progress made brings good. Lives changed. Enhanced quality of living. And I respect it. Cool. Yet tech feels like it's moving so fast. And media is to blame. It’s almost impossible to pause and take it all in. Every few years, we’re sold another dream—another must-have. And society just keeps nodding along, another subscription, a new product, this, that. It’s easy. Too easy. Because we’ve already forgotten what we signed up for. This led me to reflect on searching for time when designers were provoking these questions through their ideas. "How far are we truly willing to go to integrate tech into our bodies?". In 2002, the “Audio Tooth” was created by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau. A miniature audio output device and receiver that would be implanted into the tooth during a routine dental surgery. It would offer somewhat of electronic telepathy as the sound information travels directly into the consciousness. Imagine a cellphone in your tooth. The idea was never meant to be made. But Jimmy and James deployed their controversial “invention” to the press, and created a media blitz. They even created a fictitious business, MIBEC (micro-in-body-electronics-corporation) and made a promo film describing the concept. After going public, articles were printed in all the mainstream UK newspapers and TV programs. Even being named in Time Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2002. Although the device was never invented. Let alone, "prototyped"... it's a cool concept that once lived. I dig it.

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