“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
In the mid-1980s I had the idea for an invention. I have NEVER liked the anonymity of telephones. When somebody knocks on your door, you can peek out the window and see who it is. If it’s somebody you want to avoid, you can close yourself in a closet or lay down and don’t make a move or a sound until the intruder goes away. Up until just a little over ten years ago, if the telephone rang you didn’t know who was calling. Now you COULD do what I’ve done and others have done...you could let your answering machine pick it up...and when you heard, “This is a VERY IMPORTANT CALL about $362. you owe on your credit card bill,” then you could get a big smile on your face and be glad you let the answering machine take the call! Still, that was a very cumbersome and impolite way to screen calls. I had the idea for a screen which would give you a readout with the full telephone number, including area code, of the person calling. I did not know what I could call this invention, or HOW it could possibly be made, but it struck me that the U.S.A. had landed a man on the moon in 1969, but still we had no technology to show us who was calling when the phone rang.
About ten years after I had my idea, Caller ID was introduced in limited markets. When it became available in the Boston area around 1995, I got Caller ID for both my office and my home. I was delighted that Caller ID not only gave you the number but also the NAME of the caller. I never imagined THAT. But the fact is, I had the idea for Caller ID, but being very unscientific and very non-technically inclined, I really had no way to tangibly build my idea.
I’ve got an idea for something else which would be MUCH more complicated and technically difficult than Caller ID was. I don’t believe the technology exists TODAY to make what I want, but I absolutely believe that “should the Lord tarry” as we born-again Christians say, such a thing WILL absolutely be invented and on the market within 100 years, and probably within 40 years. My idea is for some very high tech way of “projecting” (for lack of a better word) a written page, or part of a written page in somewhat transparent lettering in front of your field of vision. For example, I could be out raking leaves and in front of me, I would “see” a readable transparent image of, say, Mark chapter 7 from the Bible. As I raked and bagged, I could also be reading, “And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; “ (Mark 7:33). I could read that verse and the verses around it and think about it and continue to think about it, and yet be raking. OR, I could be walking down Concord Street, Framingham, and in front of me in my field of vision would be a transparent but quite readable I Corinthians chapter 13.
Such an idea may sound absurd, but it really isn’t. I know many would say, “But you can listen to the Bible on tapes or C.D. while you rake.” The problem is, that when born-again Christians read the Bible devotionally (and MILLIONS AND MILLIONS around the world do read the Bible devotionally every day) we don’t read it like you’d read an ordinary book. We don’t go for speed. We might spend a half hour on just one chapter...or on half of a chapter.... or on five verses....or on one verse. I’ve spoken to elderly evangelical Christians who have lost their vision and they tell me how much they detest the Bible on tapes or C.D.s. I can understand why. Sometimes I HAVE listened to the Bible on tape as I’ve painted, or folded laundry, or repaired a broken wooden drawer, or some other such thing. And I’ve found it almost pointless. I need to stop, and LOOK, and PONDER a verse or a short passage, and I can’t do that unless I’m seated and staring at a Bible.
For Christians who love to be active but who want to have a quality devotional life- that “piece” can be frustrating. For about ten years, I’ve been walking and praying. I used to be one who went into a private room and knelt down and prayed. I almost never do that now. I’ve learned the exhilaration of walking and praying. And it’s wonderful. I’ve also done things like raking leaves and praying or shoveling snow and praying or mowing the lawn and praying and it’s WONDERFUL. But I’m frustrated that I can’t do the same thing with Scripture reading! With an invention such as I’m describing, which would involve some sort of VERY tiny device, with a very tiny battery, and a very tiny computer chip and some way of “projecting” the words so YOU could see them but on one else could...well that way I could walk or mow or shovel and read the Bible devotionally just the same way I pray. I know that someone may say, “you could have a Palm Pilot with the Bible on it” (or some other such thing) but to try to rake leaves or mow a lawn or shovel snow while you’re looking at a Palm Pilot...well I might as well just carry my small New Testament, but again, to try to rake or mow or shovel while you’re reading a Bible in your hands...well it’s just not practical.
There are certainly questions about such a device being invented. Would you be able to use it while driving? That would probably be a bad idea. Would it work in the dark or in very bad weather? Maybe not- I’m not sure.
I know the idea of such an invention sounds crazy...but think back to 1962 (for those of you who can possibly remember 1962, as I can). In 1962, who would have imagined cell phones, or Blackberries, or lap top computers, or C.D. players or D.V.D. players, or high definition television, or even answering machines, for that matter? (The first answering machines came on the market in the early 1970s.) Yet, we take all of this stuff for granted today.
What I’m writing about here and wishing for WILL exist within 100 years and probably within 40 years. I hope I will be able to see it and benefit from its use. Would I like any financial benefits if such a thing is invented? Well, I realize I wouldn’t have a patent on it or anything like that, but I DO have this piece in cyberspace. I’d love to be supplied with any such devices FREE, and I’d be thrilled if somehow my name was used with the product, but I realize it would be far more likely I’d be the next President of the United States!
What do you think? If you know of some M.I.T. type technology genius, send this his or her way...maybe it will start the ball rolling on such an invention!
In the mid-1980s I had the idea for an invention. I have NEVER liked the anonymity of telephones. When somebody knocks on your door, you can peek out the window and see who it is. If it’s somebody you want to avoid, you can close yourself in a closet or lay down and don’t make a move or a sound until the intruder goes away. Up until just a little over ten years ago, if the telephone rang you didn’t know who was calling. Now you COULD do what I’ve done and others have done...you could let your answering machine pick it up...and when you heard, “This is a VERY IMPORTANT CALL about $362. you owe on your credit card bill,” then you could get a big smile on your face and be glad you let the answering machine take the call! Still, that was a very cumbersome and impolite way to screen calls. I had the idea for a screen which would give you a readout with the full telephone number, including area code, of the person calling. I did not know what I could call this invention, or HOW it could possibly be made, but it struck me that the U.S.A. had landed a man on the moon in 1969, but still we had no technology to show us who was calling when the phone rang.
About ten years after I had my idea, Caller ID was introduced in limited markets. When it became available in the Boston area around 1995, I got Caller ID for both my office and my home. I was delighted that Caller ID not only gave you the number but also the NAME of the caller. I never imagined THAT. But the fact is, I had the idea for Caller ID, but being very unscientific and very non-technically inclined, I really had no way to tangibly build my idea.
I’ve got an idea for something else which would be MUCH more complicated and technically difficult than Caller ID was. I don’t believe the technology exists TODAY to make what I want, but I absolutely believe that “should the Lord tarry” as we born-again Christians say, such a thing WILL absolutely be invented and on the market within 100 years, and probably within 40 years. My idea is for some very high tech way of “projecting” (for lack of a better word) a written page, or part of a written page in somewhat transparent lettering in front of your field of vision. For example, I could be out raking leaves and in front of me, I would “see” a readable transparent image of, say, Mark chapter 7 from the Bible. As I raked and bagged, I could also be reading, “And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; “ (Mark 7:33). I could read that verse and the verses around it and think about it and continue to think about it, and yet be raking. OR, I could be walking down Concord Street, Framingham, and in front of me in my field of vision would be a transparent but quite readable I Corinthians chapter 13.
Such an idea may sound absurd, but it really isn’t. I know many would say, “But you can listen to the Bible on tapes or C.D. while you rake.” The problem is, that when born-again Christians read the Bible devotionally (and MILLIONS AND MILLIONS around the world do read the Bible devotionally every day) we don’t read it like you’d read an ordinary book. We don’t go for speed. We might spend a half hour on just one chapter...or on half of a chapter.... or on five verses....or on one verse. I’ve spoken to elderly evangelical Christians who have lost their vision and they tell me how much they detest the Bible on tapes or C.D.s. I can understand why. Sometimes I HAVE listened to the Bible on tape as I’ve painted, or folded laundry, or repaired a broken wooden drawer, or some other such thing. And I’ve found it almost pointless. I need to stop, and LOOK, and PONDER a verse or a short passage, and I can’t do that unless I’m seated and staring at a Bible.
For Christians who love to be active but who want to have a quality devotional life- that “piece” can be frustrating. For about ten years, I’ve been walking and praying. I used to be one who went into a private room and knelt down and prayed. I almost never do that now. I’ve learned the exhilaration of walking and praying. And it’s wonderful. I’ve also done things like raking leaves and praying or shoveling snow and praying or mowing the lawn and praying and it’s WONDERFUL. But I’m frustrated that I can’t do the same thing with Scripture reading! With an invention such as I’m describing, which would involve some sort of VERY tiny device, with a very tiny battery, and a very tiny computer chip and some way of “projecting” the words so YOU could see them but on one else could...well that way I could walk or mow or shovel and read the Bible devotionally just the same way I pray. I know that someone may say, “you could have a Palm Pilot with the Bible on it” (or some other such thing) but to try to rake leaves or mow a lawn or shovel snow while you’re looking at a Palm Pilot...well I might as well just carry my small New Testament, but again, to try to rake or mow or shovel while you’re reading a Bible in your hands...well it’s just not practical.
There are certainly questions about such a device being invented. Would you be able to use it while driving? That would probably be a bad idea. Would it work in the dark or in very bad weather? Maybe not- I’m not sure.
I know the idea of such an invention sounds crazy...but think back to 1962 (for those of you who can possibly remember 1962, as I can). In 1962, who would have imagined cell phones, or Blackberries, or lap top computers, or C.D. players or D.V.D. players, or high definition television, or even answering machines, for that matter? (The first answering machines came on the market in the early 1970s.) Yet, we take all of this stuff for granted today.
What I’m writing about here and wishing for WILL exist within 100 years and probably within 40 years. I hope I will be able to see it and benefit from its use. Would I like any financial benefits if such a thing is invented? Well, I realize I wouldn’t have a patent on it or anything like that, but I DO have this piece in cyberspace. I’d love to be supplied with any such devices FREE, and I’d be thrilled if somehow my name was used with the product, but I realize it would be far more likely I’d be the next President of the United States!
What do you think? If you know of some M.I.T. type technology genius, send this his or her way...maybe it will start the ball rolling on such an invention!
3 comments:
well, they have those telepromptor things for the President to read his speech on that is clear and only he can see it, maybe you could attach one to your glasses or something...
glad you comment, amy.
for a while it was just me... it was sad.
sounds like it'd be some sort of visor or contact lense... you'd have to be careful where you use it... it can be distracting trying to walk and read something... you might walk into the street... and of course some people might think you're just creepy... just staring into space since they don't know what you're doing... but I'm sure holographic stuff like that will become the way of things eventually
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