All over the world people need glasses. The problem is that all over the world people don’t have access to eye care…what to do.
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription. (via)
I’m a bit uncomfortable with this, which is odd as I wear them. Maybe it’s the Zulu wearing them (although Zulu is actually not strictly a tribal grouping, it is a collection of subverted tribes in southern Africa) and the possible implication that it could be used as another way of pressing civilization onto tribes: possibly not, but I do know that bad eyesight is almost unknown in ancient tribes, as it has been evolved out – no one with bad eyesight can hunt effectively.
The biggest problem with eyecare is not in terms of eyesight per se, but the number of preventable diseases, particularly those spread by parasites, caused by water pollution. Clean the water up and you massively cut the number of eye diseases – but cleaning the water up will mean getting rid of unregulated industry and intensive farming. Damn! Civilization foiled again!