Quote from Ray Kurzweil "The real power of human thinking is based on recognizing patterns," he said. The better computers get at pattern recognition, the more humanlike they will become."

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Seeing Eye people is an uncoupling of physical space with presence. What we see is not where we are. It is also a HUGE idea. This is your virtual window idea made mobile; looking out the eyes of your teenage friends is the next hive level, and it is what moves the handhelds to the cyborg. Be aware also that what gets created is larger than the sum of all our visions. This is a way to travel with someone even though you aren't there. You could trickle charge for Seeing Eye People (needs to be patented). All those kids who are texting will pay to look out their friend's eyes. It is the real beginning of hive brain. This is the lure for venture capital and for the involvement of telephone companies. If this is already on the radar screen of the corporations then all the blind have to do is piggy back on the service.

Develop an A team of "beta testers." Consider a small group of initial "astronauts; test pilots" who test and wear the prototypes for extensive periods of time. This group should be board members like Dan and some of his staff and selected individuals with a strong interest. A "B" team of testers could be internet based.

Also for the team consider a certain number of people with reputation capital; a designer like Mel Rapp; an aggressive web designer for marketing, blogging, fund raising on line; knowledge management; media handling etc. I also would like someone on the team who is an expert on "ethics/social consequences of technological change. I am the "tetris guy."

Cybernauts; Xybernauts; Cybernaut challenge routes (crisis mobility); surviver routes; playing tennis

The journey is no small idea. Men need to be part of grand plans, to fit into a larger moral framework. They need to take noble and grand paths and overcome squabbling and the hordong of secrets (ie. avoid the small man that is inside us all. Flow with the big man.)

Find the courage to map the entire universe of blind wayfinding; leave no one out, illuminate, map and consider the whole of the picture. Find the courage to map the (equivalent of the genome project); go to the core of each individual.

When the time is right, the teacher will come to you. Listen to the students, your friends, colleagues, serendipity, the voice of fate, look to the "why did this happen" messages.

Who will champion the challenge if not the blind themselves? Who will address 40 million needlessly blind? How will you lead? Where will you lead? Other priorities are more important to the human community. Blindness will never rise to the top of the agenda; only the blind can make it an issue and a priority. The blind must lead the sighted. They must organize and challenge the sighted. They must recruit the sighted and give them direction.

The difference between males and females is no small difference. You have to design the technology specific to the sex (to the individual anyway)

A grant supported project is not adequate. The grants are too rigid and don't allow for rapid change of direction. Consider universal corporate support or venture capital.

We need a "Wall of Honor" for the agencies that came together over the years to make the vision prosthesis possible. We would have WAFTB at the top and IIBN on the list. NEC Foundation of America would have to be in the top five because they were the key to the campaign that elevated wayfinding technologies to the front of the debate in the blindness field.

Remember H.P's Cool Town and IBM's World board. These and other similar programs could help with audification.

(a grant is not sufficient; a fluid constant flow of resources and funds is needed; a system that can change focus and directions as the future directs; the grant system locks you in to a format; it is an old system, too slow, too rigid)

Canadian and international funds

Land Warrior project/system; approach these people

Mike has created a world of good that involves a federal wayfinding grant, Xybernaut, several key universities and Sendero. He also is networking at a furious pace. Try not to be in competition with this good energy but rather to augment it.

E.B. Whites story of the cowboy who rides into town hooting and shooting his gun into the air and who leaves the town later feeling like it was good that the situation happened even if everything went back to "normal".

Giving the technology to the world via the internet (as Peter Meijer has done) self selects interested individuals, creates a market, gives a focus to people, provides a journey, sets up the potential for a guild. It's like giving away the hardware (the printer for example) and selling the software (the paper, the ink, the upgrade, the tech support), you create a population that needs training and retraining, upgrades and more upgrades, tech support forever, and Seeing Eye People networks.