Even before we get AR contact lenses a system like "The Sixth Sense" from this TED video: http://bit.ly/8jtgXA could work in a similar way. In the video they even show a tag cloud projected onto a person after running a Google/social search.

Very, very nice presentation indeed. Worrying or rejoicing are two facets of our thought process. The interconnected planet and the "planetary brain" were already described in the early stages of computer development, in the seventies. The current stages of our networks were pretty accurately described at the time, by visionnaries like you are who were sensing the awe and also the dark sides of what could be done with these extraordinary information highways.

There will always be a way to either marvel or worry, as you have said it here. My point is that it calls for keeping on teaching our children values, the same values that have always been tought and instilled in generations and generations. It takes time, love and dedication. There has never been any technology to replace them and will never be. We have choices.

Some kind of education around personal data awareness may well be on the curriculum by the time my 8mth old boy is at school. At least I hope so.

Great comment @Otir, and you are so very right. As soon as I started realising the potential, both ominous and the one full of positive possibilities, I wondered how I was going to prepare my 8month old for this future.

I guess baby steps are the way to go.

uhm, scared? 0_o
I'd like to see a pro and con list, and who is investing money and who might misuse the information or how misuse might be prevented.

on the pro side: I Think I can picture NGOs working together and using this.

"a peer pressure focused on data sharing may mean we are even more suspicious of those not participating in revealing all."
That's very true. Let's hope people will be able to have a choice.

Uh, Hi.
Today I was wondering something and I thought I might comment here instead of sending an e-mail.
I was asking myself if there was a different approach towards internet & 'big brother tendencies' in (european) countries that have a history of dictatorship(s). Because clearly there is still the memory of observation and restriction of personal rights/freedom ( maybe in America it's memories of Cold War culture?)..... . And maybe it's just the media but I get the feeling that in Germany there is a debate about internet & personal sphere, that I havn't come across in American journalism for example. Of course I have no idea how it IS in other countries.
I mean internet and undemocratic regimes is an issue in South America and Asia for sure. And it's nice to see that internet as such does cause new thoughts on democratic values.

I thought that you know so many people from all over the world- and I wonder what you/ they think about that.
Like: "How does the memory of national history influence the opinion on internet and its extensions?" Something like that.

Technology is a huge thing for the industry of course. New things to sell, more money to make.
Critical questions and moments of "wait a second, where is this all leading to?" almost seem suspicious. Especially since internet does provide space for democratic institutions and critical thoughts.
"Life must be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward." etc.
Sometimes I fear we are so much on "fast forward" that we might understand consequences (potential misuse) too late.

This is a great question and perhaps worth a bit of study. I am sure that countries with a memory of oppression/observation etc will be more vigilant but who really decides all of this. Do the people really have that much of a say? Is it not sometimes a case of the few controlling the masses? Then there are the technologies being implemented on a global scale.

I don't think I can answer your question and hope that others reading this can shed some light on what is happening elsewhere in the world.