rocks

Mike Wuerthele said:

It takes no re-engineering to allay the concerns of regular people. 

The regular people are the ones who do sane risk assessment regarding RF and Apple Vision Pro. Again, there's more delivered RF from electrical wires in walls, desk fans, and portable heaters than there is in Apple Vision Pro.

There is a certain bit of intuitive common sense that tells a person putting a complex piece of electronic equipment in close proximity to your brain may have unforeseen consequences, whether or not they can pinpoint the exact reason why. This is an innate part of human nature that is being triggered in those that are concerned; one that predates modern science. It doesn’t depend on modern science to be formed, but requires different degrees of confirmation from modern science for different people to allay that intuition.

Ironically, Steve Jobs himself championed the importance of intuition over studies and data. The genius of this is why human beings have been so successful in navigating a world full of mysteries over the centuries, leading our species to the prominent position on earth that it’s in today.

The author may be very well founded in his understanding of the literature on the topic so far, but it’s important to not forget that the literature is not, and rarely is in science, exhaustive. We all have varying levels of tolerance for the remainder, or yet unknown, portion.

And the crux of the issue may come down to this: even if it were definitively proven that an RF beacon 2 inches from your brain has no significant effect on your chance of getting cancer, cancer is not the only present, or potential, malady in our world. This is the point that always seems to be overlooked when the ridiculing begins of those that are concerned. The lion share of the arguments is always about ionization and heating of tissues and quickly devolves into talk about tin foil. But it doesn’t have to be that extreme of a consequence to warrant concern. Perhaps the effect is only as benign as giving slight fatigue or a slight headache to those that are sensitive and are exposed for a couple hours a day. Isn’t that human being’s experience worth our consideration when we build such products. Shouldn’t their condition be accommodated for just like others that Apple has so admirably taken into account with their accessibility implementations. Or should we just ridicule them for feeling how they feel and for being morons because they didn’t internalize the current scientific literature.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of people who simply don’t feel 100% around RF beacons; and they should not be ridiculed for it. Even if there truly was nothing at all to be worried about, that you could use it 8 hours a day 5 days a week without the hint of an effect, and it was purely a psychological phobia (including the fatigue and headaches some claim to experience), ridiculing that is like ridiculing a claustrophobic person before an MRI. But the medical industry had enough decency to consider the claustrophobic even to the point of engineering entirely new MRI machines formed in a way that doesn’t require the phobia to be triggered to get a simple MRI. I said it already but it warrants repeating; ridiculing those who are uncomfortable with strapping a wireless beacon 2 inches from their brain is wrong regardless of the science behind the issue regarding cancer.

Not everyone that has concern has to be a lunatic just because they are skeptical that a limited number of studies in a relatively short period of time is the be all and end all for the issue. Both humans and nature are full of nuances; it’s not always black and white.

There is a simple fix for this. Enable the USB/Ethernet connectivity inherent in the underlying iOS implementation that visionOS is based on which can be connected to the USB-C port on the developer strap. Then make the developer strap available to all for purchase. This is more decent than to lazily throw tin foil at their faces. It does not require a giant feat of reengineering to allay the concerns of regular people; simply give the option to use Ethernet and a USB keyboard. This has the added benefit of offering a stable and fast connection to those with weak WiFi. For the next Vision Pro, move the compute to the battery pack. This has the added benefit of decreasing the weight substantially. In the end, you have a better product for everyone. You can see the pattern here; when you make Vision Pro’s design better for some, it tends to make it better for all.