In The Restaurant At The End of The Universe, Douglas Adams pioneered the idea of peril-sensitive sunglasses: a pair of shades that darken in tense situations to keep the wearer from panicking. Now, one Hitchhiker fan has made the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses a reality.
Hack A Day member Minimum Effective Dose designed a prototype of the shades for a contest. His sunglasses measure stress and darken according to body temperature and skin response. Here’s a tantalizingly short video of them in action:
Yes, I think the glasses are shielding that skull from a sonic screwdriver. Full disclosure: Doctor Who freaks me out, too.
The shades seem too disorienting to make an effective transition from the books to real life, but I can see how it would be useful to effectively censor the world for myself during stressful situations that don’t require any action on my part. I hate flying, but I worry if I close my eyes during takeoff, the stranger sitting next to me will think I’m a nut job. At least with a pair of H2G2 shades, I’ll look cool.
Relatively speaking.
(via Neatorama, image via Joseph Nicolia)
