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The Home Of The Future
CitizenC writes, "C|Net is currently running a story about the home of the future!
Excerpt: First the Net went portable. Now it's going practical. Forget about plug-and-surf Web computers
such as the iMac; we're talking about stoves that store recipes, and toilets that e-mail personal
information to your doctor. It sounds like just so much new-millennium hype, but Net-enabled
appliances are the first wave of a complete revolution in home design--a revolution that's
happening right now. "
If all the future of technology holds is the promise of toilets that can email, I'm gonna grab an old 386 with linux on it, move out to the boonies, and live out my life in peace and sensibility.
Technology could be used to start a real revolution, but instead we call networked toasters a "revolution" and leave it at that.
I love technology, I really do. But the way these IPO hungry corporations treat it, I'm starting to think John Zerzan may have a point.
Michael Chisari
mchisari@usa.net
As much as I would like to think I'm a person with a certain amount of sophistication and a sense of humor well superior to the Farrelly Brothers', I can't help noticing (and getting a grin from) the fact that the smart toilet is from Matsushita.
Learn to spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably, ridiculous, deity, hierarchy, versus
Okay, so it's not that high-tech, but some of the technologies that make it possible for someone with no time to figure out include:
All I need now are simple instructions for setting up a webcam under Linux (and a source of cheap webcams), to get NetATalk up and running (My wife's a school teacher, and has mac's at home to match the ones at school) and to find something that will let a Linux box see a directory on another system as if it were one of its one (like mapping a network drive with Windows/Samba.)
This is fun stuff!
Stupid people will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Just think what a stalker could find out about you if they could easily hack your house. It would be bad if someone could turn your stove on high, disable your fire alarms remotely (or even from the side of the house). The possibilities are endless. I am reminded of the adage "Whenever there is power to do great good, it can also be used for great evil."
I trained my cat to use the toilet - I wonder what sort of groceries and/or medical treatments this "smart toilet" would try and put me on based on cat feces?
And how would a toilet know who was the owner vs. a guest for proper response? I wouldn't want my doctor notified I had something nasty if it was really a friend who had dropped by...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Next thing you know, Doubleclick will be sending you ads for metamucil and high-fiber foods, based on data collected from your toilet and your refridgerator.
--"You can lead a man to knowledge, but you can't make him think."
Doesn't it seem odd that all the innovations they mention are clearly flawed concepts from the start?
People have been working on "smart homes" for 20 years now and there are always glaring blind spots in theor ideas. These "smart home" technologies are consistently designed as if the engineers had never maintained a household in their lives. They solve problems that nobody has, and don't address the common household drudgeries we all want rid of. No wonder "smart homes" haven't taken off.
F'rinstance, why would you want to turn your fridge surface into an electronic screen as an "improvement" over paper and magnets? You wouldn't be able to post the kids' drawings and good schoolwork unless you scanned them. And you couldn't grab the grocery list and stuff it manually into your pocket on your way out the door. Do you want to forfeit control over your food expenses to your household appliances?
Why would you want recipes from the internet via your microwave? You usually have to shop for ingredients before trying a new recipe. And besides, how are you supposed to see what the finished product looks like (without turning the micro into another, less versatile, web browser)? I'll stick to cookbooks, thanks.
And forget Aibo, why hasn't anyone come up with a robotic vacuum with AI so it figures out not to suck up Legos, pocket change or notes with phone numbers on them?
I don't want something that "checks" my laundry (i.e. hassles me to take my clothes out of the dryer) or makes my coffee for me (doesn't that mean I have to grind the beans and put in the filters the previous night?) or tells me that I've eaten too many Christmas cookies and need to lose weight (don't even get me started there...).
I don't want something that helps you or me be a good housewife, I want it to BE the housewife.
I don't like it. Not one little bit!
Seriously, is there anyone who gives a rat's ass about this stuff, except for the companies who (will) make it? I don't want a 'web-enabled' fridge, I don't want a 'web-enabled' toaster, and I sure as hell don't want a 'web-enabled' coffee maker!
And yet, make no mistake--in five years, whether we want it or not, we'll not be able to buy a non-net appliance. Utility doesn't matter. Customer wants don't matter. Safety doesn't matter, as long as the government doesn't complain. Profit matters, and these things will make tons of profit for Sunbeam et al, on the backs of the consumer, at the expense of utility, desire, and safety.
It's stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid; and I won't have any part in promoting it. I hope most other people won't either, but that's not how the world tends to go.
To be fair, I spend most of my day living and breathing computers, and thoroughly enjoy getting _away_ from them in the kitchen. Maybe it just feels like an invasion of my 'low-tech' space, amongst the knives and pots and pans.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
A planet were auto-defrosting refrigerators occasionally will decide that they want to defrost no matter what.
A planet, ultimately, where systems whith the level of complexity and interrelation that the article implies (like, a cluster of servers) require personnel totally dedicated to administration.
Will your ma turn sysop ? Mine sure will not ...
Estamos como estamos porquè somos como somos.
Many times when I've spent over 36 hours mudding without sleep, I have a natural inclination to type "open door" when I want to open a door, "eat cheese" when I want to eat a cheese, etc. When are these homes going to be smart enough to do that?