{"id":1651,"date":"2014-09-29T16:34:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T00:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2014-09-29T18:17:34","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T02:17:34","slug":"internet-things-coming-doesnt-look-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/internet-things-coming-doesnt-look-good\/","title":{"rendered":"The &#8220;internet of things&#8221; is coming&#8230;and it doesn&#8217;t look good."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"TweetButton_button\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  data-url=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/internet-things-coming-doesnt-look-good\/\" data-text=\"The &#038;%238220;internet of things&#038;%238221; is coming&#038;%238230;and it doesn&#038;%238217;t look good.\" data-lang=\"en\">Tweet<\/a><br \/>\n<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script><\/div>\n<p>At least that&#8217;s my opinion. \u00a0Every step forward is not neccessarily progress.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s back up a little in case you aren&#8217;t familiar with the phrase <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Internet_of_Things\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;internet of things&#8221;<\/a>. \u00a0More and more devices we use have microprocessors and internet connectivity built in for automation or for more efficient operation. \u00a0In practicality it means many things we use are becoming &#8220;smart&#8221;. \u00a0The &#8220;internet of things&#8221; refers to this grid of interconnected smart devices.<\/p>\n<p>As I have stated in the past, I am skeptical of our implementation of new technologies, mostly in regard to the development of robotics and artificial intelligence. \u00a0Now you can add to that the smartification and internet connectivity of every damn thing we own. \u00a0Apparently I&#8217;m not alone. \u00a0At <em>The Atlantic<\/em>, Alexis Madrigal and Robinson Meyer have co-authored a piece entitled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2014\/09\/when-everything-works-like-your-cell-phone\/379820\/?single_page=true\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;When Everything Works Like Your Cell Phone&#8221;<\/a> that outlines a few concerns starting with three things that happen to an object when it connects to the internet. \u00a0It becomes smart, it becomes hackable and it becomes something you no longer completeley own. \u00a0It goes downhill from there.<\/p>\n<p>Companies are working on this technology in ways you probably would never imagine, in order to Make Your Life Easier. \u00a0Pull quote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cSmartness\u201d implies a smartphone-like upgrade cycle&#8230;This aspirational smartness is not just coming to watches. Any product that&#8217;s worth more than a few bucks will have some intelligence and communication abilities embedded in it. Companies that exist <em>today <\/em>are trying to create smart umbrellas and smart crockpots.<\/p>\n<p>Do you <em>want<\/em> a crockpot that has to be replaced at every few years\u2014or at least that will be forever upgrading itself? Would apps change your mind?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let&#8217;s talk about a few examples that exist today. \u00a0The &#8220;smart&#8221; thermostat comes to mind. \u00a0The utility company will &#8220;give&#8221; you one &#8211; free of charge! \u00a0To help you save money on your bill. \u00a0How nice of them. \u00a0The little bastard will also rat you out to the utility company if you set it too low or too high, and the utility company can take control over it in certain situations. \u00a0Not really yours, is it? \u00a0What about your Smartphone? \u00a0Well, you can&#8217;t do <em>everything<\/em> you want with it. \u00a0Your only allowed to use it consistent with the carrier&#8217;s terms of service. \u00a0And you can&#8217;t unlock it and use it on another carrier. \u00a0Plus it spies on you. \u00a0Is it really yours?<\/p>\n<p>So do you really want to be driving around in a Smart Car that won&#8217;t go as fast as you want it to? \u00a0You want to get to work today don&#8217;t you? \u00a0Click here to agree to our terms of service. \u00a0Don&#8217;t agree? \u00a0Get out and walk. \u00a0Do you want to have a Smart Toaster \u00a0or other Smart Appliances collecting data about your kitchen habits and sending them up to the cloud? \u00a0All just so you can control them with your smartphone without having to get up off the couch <em>ten feet away<\/em>? \u00a0I don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/internet-things-coming-doesnt-look-good\/internetfridge\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1659\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1659\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/internetfridge.jpg\" alt=\"internetfridge\" width=\"492\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/internetfridge.jpg 492w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/internetfridge-150x134.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/internetfridge-300x268.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The more automation simplfies our lives, the more it complicates our lives. \u00a0And the only reason to have autonomous machines is so that human decision making and judgement are not required for their operation. \u00a0You see where that&#8217;s going? \u00a0As our machines get smarter and smarter, we get dumber and dumber. \u00a0And dumberer. \u00a0Don&#8217;t believe me? \u00a0Look around.<\/p>\n<p>I will make an exception for the <a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/?p=1583\" target=\"_blank\">Manhattan Project BarBot<\/a>. \u00a0Lemme just look over these terms of service. \u00a0Hmmm&#8230;&#8230;two drink maximum per person?<\/p>\n<p><em>Dammit!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tweet At least that&#8217;s my opinion. \u00a0Every step forward is not neccessarily progress. Let&#8217;s back up a little in case you aren&#8217;t familiar with the phrase &#8220;internet of things&#8221;. \u00a0More and more devices we use have microprocessors and internet connectivity built in for automation or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1662,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions\/1662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}