Virtual Light

I’m very pleased to see an article on augmented reality, which is something similar to what I’ve been hoping for since I read Virtual Light in 1993. Here’s a snippet where Sammy Sal is explaining to Chevette what they are:

   “Those VL glasses. Virtual Light.”
   She’d heard of it, but wasn’t sure what it was. “They expensive, Sammy Sal?”
   “Shit, yes. ‘Bout as much as a Japanese car. Not all that much more, though. Got these little EMP-drivers around the lenses. Work your optic nerves direct. Friend of mine, he’d bring a pair home from the office where he worked. Landscape architects. Put ’em on, you go out walking, everything looks normal, but every plant you see, every tree, there’s this little label hanging there, what it’s name is, Latin under that…
   “But they’re solid black.”
   “Not if you turn them on, they aren’t. Turn ’em on, they don’t even look like sunglasses.”