The summary pretty much says it - mount a small camera (perhaps on stick protruding upwards from your back), such that the camera sits 5 metres or so above your head, pointing downwards. For the best affect, the camera should be offset diagonally a little bit.
You then proceed with normal life wearing a headset/display goggles showing what the camera is seeing - which will be a top-down "isometric" view of yourself and the environment around you. In other words, your viewpoint of reality is converted to a top-down view(much like many role-playing computer games; Ultima, Diablo, etc.).
An extra addition would be a voice recognition component which interprets what those around you are saying and superimposes the corresopnding text over their heads in your headset view. This would create a very computer-gamey feel to reality.
Going indoors would obviously pose a problem (unless 5-metre high ceilings are common in your area), but I still think the idea has merit. I thought it could be used to treat people with extreme cases of social phobia - e.g. there is apparently a problem with some Japanese teenage boys who are too nervous to operate outside of their rooms. Strap one of these devices on, and you've got them one step further to a normal life.-- Achenar, Jun 16 2004 The Fowl Version http://bz.pair.com/fun/gooseCam.jpg [bristolz, Oct 04 2004] and the purpose is...?-- etherman, Jun 16 2004 Isn't this WTCTTISITVGWIBNIIWR?-- GenYus, Jun 16 2004 Achenar... yes, obviously the idea works... however, if somebody has such a drastic game addiction that they can no longer deal with reality, merely turning reality into a computer game doesn't quite deal with the root cause of the problem.-- david_scothern, Jun 16 2004 Great for not letting people sneak up behind you...-- luecke, Jun 16 2004 "Strap one of these devices on, and you've got them one step further to a normal life." Your normal seems to be normal to what I see as normal.
But, maybe as part of a therapeutic treatment someone could benefit from it. Then again, taking away their video games for a while might help them get in touch with a first person view of the world.
Isn't there some sort of wide angle lens or parabolic reflector you could use to keep the camera from having to be 5 meters in the air?-- half, Jun 16 2004 there's also a big brother type tv idea in there somewhere.-- etherman, Jun 16 2004 Re: help with social phobia -- You almost led into another idea here. If you have enough video cameras staring down at a person you're talking to, then it will make them nervous, and that might boost your own confidence.-- phundug, Jun 16 2004 Agreed; surely not everyone would feel confident knowing that they are making people nervous. But I know that many years ago, when I was a shy little boy, I was timid around confident people and confident around shy / nervous people. ( I wouldn't have liked the "predatory" aspect of using a video camera to force others to be shy, however.)-- phundug, Jun 16 2004 Sounds fun, although could be a little awkward, i propose having a system set up for everyone in a city with cameras attached to roofs and goggles attached to everyone who wants to use it... Then everyone could have top down view :D-- whaymes, Aug 26 2004 Baked a few years ago (with a helium balloon, no less). Search for "Topshot Helmet". There was also somebody else's version on YouTube more recently, but I forget what it was called.-- notexactly, Nov 14 2015 random, halfbakery