Culture
This Time-Altering Helmet Slows Down the Pace of City Life
It might not give you Matrix-style bullet-dodging skills, but this German invention could cause you to walk into an open manhole.
This German "Decelerator Helmet" might not give you Matrix-style bullet-dodging skills, but it could let you walk blindly into an open manhole.
Built by Lorenz Potthast, the high-tech headgear is meant to slow down the hustle and bustle of the modern city. For the viewer entrapped within its spheroid gut, its mechanism is simple yet difficult to grasp on a why-was-this-built level. The wearer puts the device over his head like an inverted ice bucket. He sees a computer monitor showing what's happening straight ahead in real-time. Using a wireless mouse, the user can cause the video feed to slow down, creating the sensation that everyone is slogging through three feet of gooey blackstrap.