Building a bionic eye Peering into the future

When one uses google or any other search engine to look up "bionic eye" (another term for artificial vision or any form of neural prosthesis used to restore vision) numerous articles about how vision may be restored to the blind or extremely visually impaired comes up. Yet this article in the economist negates this fundamental definition by introducing research currently being performed to develop contact lenses that do not improve vision, but are "smart". They are trying to create a miniscule computer that can display information into the eye which can be perceived only by the wearer.
Clearly what constitutes artificial vision is not as narrow as one may at first perceive. It can be a means to enhance vision in numerous ways or manipulate vision as a source of information storage, not just restoring lost vision. Which concept will be more applicable to the general public in the future will depend on how quickly they will become something marketable and the needs of the future generations. Perhaps a bio-medical method for restoring vision will replace the technology/engineering method and obliterate all of the current developments. Although everything is still in the testing stage, it is highly intriguing to see in which direction artificial vision will go.

weblink: http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/tm/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14538587