As the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 in Las Vegas comes to end I would like to draw your attention to the third wave of internet revolution – Internet of Things.
More and more of our day-to-day objects are being connected, new terms that describe this data interchange are created every day. Let's look at "Smart-Home" and "V2V".
Smart-home appliances are coming from the prototype stage to production. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your refrigerator ordered milk by itself, so that the coffee machine could start to brew according to the settings on your smartfone alarm clock? Well, it’s not the future anymore. It’s reality.
What about the commute to work? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your car picked you up from the frontdoor, communicated with other moving vehicles (V2V) the infrastructure (V2I) and then chose the best route to your office?
The internet of things also holds an another aspect: BIG DATA. People may become overwhelmed by all the check-ins, shares, options.That information will be stored and used, there is no guarantee that it will be to the benefit of the users.
These futuristic scenarios may be real in less than five years.
Additional materials:
Please watch the BBC video about Internet of Things at CES
TechCrunch site dedicated to Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
Questions:
1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one can pre-programme the fat contents, the expiration date or the preferred brand? I'm sure that could be resolved quite easily.
DeleteI we already have third wave of internet revolution I must have slept a few years :-D.
DeleteI agree with WiT that famous intelligent fridge can cause some legal issues. Personally I like to have a choice and possibility of choice is more important for me than comfort. Krzysiek, I also agree with you that some problems can be solved quite easily but in my opinion only at technical level. If we look at questions like “which browser should be delivered with M$’s operating system” we should see that answer shouldn’t be obvious. Maybe if we have well developed infrastructure for intelligent fridges (nets of product suppliers with a wide product range) we will be able to answer that all possibilities should be included. But I don’t heard about such infrastructure so I prefer waiting for more.
Maybe for GPS system problem of infrastructure was solved easier because initially infrastructure was developed for army – read: it didn’t have to have any economical reason.
Personally, I wouldn't want my fridge to be filled with too much technology. These things become obsolete relatively quickly, much quicker than the life span of a kitchen appliance such as a fridge. I'm also not convinced that automated shopping is a good thing, I wouldn't want to be tied to a limited range of products or retailers.
DeleteSo I guess I wouldn't pay the emotional price of having my food supplies ordered for me. But that's just one example, I think the key is technology being tailored to specific needs of individuals.
As for our dependance on machines, it is happening and so far we've benefited immensely. As humans, we don't have that many natural skills, everything has to be learned. The truth is we absolutely rely on electricity and it can't be any different with the huge number of people in the world who live in cities (although some populations are still living without electricity).
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
Yes I am concerned. But we are currently witnessing a sea change in this area. People are more and more comfortable with sharing their lives online. This may become a similar divide to the "digital natives" and non-natives which we've talked about. People may laugh at our insistence on online anonymity in the future.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
ReplyDeleteI think it would, the proof of my statement is evolution itself :) If the technical improvements didn't make it better we would not have advanced so far. Really simple example is the fact that we would not have gone so far if it was for our good and well being. Of course there are numerous examples in the history of science that shows that technology can do many bad things but in my opinion outcome is in favor of humanity.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
It may, but it shouldn't. In general everything is for people and it only depends from them how will they use it. I think in engineering it is a common practice to design fallback plans for each an every system, and I think that is the way we should also live our lives.
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
I like comfortable life, I like it very much ... And my personal opinion is that it is always possible to find balance between accomplishing the goal of improving life standard and retaining as much privacy as you it is needed. On the other hand nobody is forcing anybody for using things that in his opinion violates his privacy.
Artur, I like your remark about finding balance, it's a very reasonable voice in the discussion.
Delete1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
ReplyDeleteI think that showed technology will improve our life. I agree with Artur about evolution – nobody can stop our desires for more and more comfortable life.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
Yes, but we are already dependent from such many things. My mother – accountant – used an abacus and tons of paper for calculating taxes, my daughter uses calculator from her mobile for adding a few numbers. I think that it’s a normal course of things. Probably nobody of us feels that we shouldn’t be dependent from wheels and other similar inventions. Electricity and machines are next in my opinion.
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
My main problem with security is that I think about it when is probably too late. I saw a guy in TV who said that he didn’t use ATM cards in shops because … there was a case during US presidential campaign when somebody had published information about buying pornography by one candidates 10 years earlier. So I don’t know how many personal information I have already given for potential opponents.
"So I don’t know how many personal information I have already given for potential opponents" - nice one! LOL
Delete1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely yes. This technology will have a tremendous impact on our life.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
Yes, in some areas of our life I think it is possible. We already depend on the electricity, so creating a faster internet will certainly not increase it.
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
It has nothing to do with security.When the technology is developing the security is also adapting.
Kinga, you are very brave to have so much belief in security :-)
ReplyDelete:) yes I know a few other people also told me that
DeleteIt's a really interesting topic. I feel so inspired by technology nowadays. 3 years ago it was hard to predict, that smartphones 'll be more than 1/3 phones market share in 2012.
ReplyDelete1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
Yes - it does today and it will tommorow. It's hard to say anything else (especialy when I look at Android fridge)
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
Yes, that's a serious threat - you're smarter if you have a faster device.
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
It always depends on transparency and is it my will to share some informations. For me it's definitely easier to give my private data to one company than to company that will share my data with third-parties.
Interesting and obviously brilliant. However, I purposefully live a life in/out a smart phone, twitter account or Skype account. Soon we will know where everyone is, what they do, for how long, with who? Where every object on Earth is, and is able to remotely control these objects. Amazing things that will come of the Internet of Things, but you would never be able to hide from it, as sensors would be in everything and everywhere. From an art/science perspective this has fascinating possibilities and I can think of ways to incorporate it into my work.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the core function of technology is to create ways to improve our wellbeing. The further it gets, the more boring and time consuming tasks can be automated. Dealing with complex issues will also be easier as we are being offered information that can shape our decision-making process. We can see this trend now and it will become bigger in the future... Putting it plain and simple - people are lazy as of their nature and will try to make their lives easier, more pleasant and reduce the amount of work they have to do.
ReplyDeleteI also think that people (at least in most of the European countries) are heavily dependent on technology. Just imagine how much chaos occurs when a big city like New York looses the power supply over just a couple of hours. And it's a natural order that we lose some of our skills due to technology progress, but at the same time we need to develop different ones that match the current situation.
As for the topic on how much privacy would I sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life, I must say that I could give a lot. As previously stated by many, we already live in a world where this kind of information is floating around and I am already giving away quite a lot of my privacy for a comfortable life - a decision I made a long time ago.
Hehe, about moving vehicles check Audi Piloted Parking:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEh7qIon36s
1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
I do not know, but the more I think that technology do not improve our well being. I think that technology weakens people, we spend more and more time at home rather than be with other people.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependent on machines and electricity?
Definitely Yes. I agree, and who knows maybe in a thousand years we will be live in the Matrix or someone building SkyNet.
3.1) Are you concerned with security of your personal data?
Yes, I am very careful with my private/personal data and the risks are many, such as stealing or loss of data.
3.2) How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
Very little...
Interesting topic and not so distant. You are right that it’s already present.
ReplyDelete1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
Keep the balance with everything. Gaining something would always mean to lose something else. We can’t have all options. Well being will be improved but the emotional price will be paid.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
It does so. The more you take things as granted the more dependent you become.
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
Personal data is very important for me but the more data you generate the bigger is the chance that the world would have it and use it ...
1) What will be the emotional price? Will the technology really improve our well being?
ReplyDeleteI think that new technology will improve our life and make it easier but we need to remember that it also can be used in wrong way. But people always try to make their life easier so we can't stop new technology.
2) Don’t you think that it can take away our natural skills and make us dependant on machines and electricity?
I think that now we are depends from machines and technology think abut that in that moment you don't have electricity and all computers are broke you lost all your many which you have in bank because all our many ale virtual and are stored in database so you can by anything . I was in USA during balckout and I sow what was happening when all NY wasn't have electricity.So we are depend on technology:)
3) Are you concerned with security of your personal data? How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in order to live a more comfortable life?
I secure my personal data especially data which are connected with my money:) I try not to overdone with that secure