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Why the Internet Needs Cognitive Protocols
An anonymous reader writes "We keep hearing that the 'Internet of Things' is coming – that day when we'll all have not just smart phones but also smart refrigerators, smart alarm clocks, and smart roads and bridges. A new article in IEEE Spectrum magazine makes the argument that this won't happen unless engineers do some serious rethinking of how the Internet's basic routing architecture works. The author, Anthony Liotta, offers some interesting solutions based on two networks in the human body: the autonomic nervous system and the cognitive brain."
Serious rethinking is what people who think they want smart toasters need to do.
I really don't feel the need to see every device under the sun attached to the internet. And I certainly don't want my car being tracked by smart roads and bridges. It's bad enough that they're already using license plate cameras to track us all.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
Is this why he's a professor teaching networking and not a network engineer?
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
The last thing I want to worry about is security vulnerabilities overflowing my toilet. I really don't want my refrigerator, toaster, coffee maker, and microwave on line.
I can just picture it now.
"I'm sorry, Spluggies Brand Bread did not renew their agreement with your Anus 11 Brand Ultratoaster. This toaster does not authorize the toasting of Spluggies Bread."
"Your milk carton has been determined to come from Canada. The Sphincter X73 Megafridge will not permit you to insert it, as there is no cross-licensing agreement with Canada."
I can just see sites dedicated to rooting your shower so you can use European shampoo and conditioner.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I want my fridge to know what I have so that I literally never have to think about buying food again. It tracks what I use an orders more. Someone drops it off at my door and I put it back in the fridge. I *can* do all of that manually, but there's no benefit to my participation so I'd rather have the free time and brain power to spend on something else. And the fridge can actually do it better than me, because it can look at use rates and determine if an order for more milk is required today or if it could wait until Thursday when I'll also be out of bread.
And that's just one example with one appliance; I could sit here all day and name more. It's fine if you don't want to do those things, but it's ridiculous to pretend that no benefits exists, and that no one else is interested. Your lack of imagination and/or interest does not define society.
Offload as much bulk traffic as possible to content-addressible networking. Use packet switching for specific-destination time-sensitive communications, and hash-addressed caches for the 'want this, don't care where from' things like static content. With an IP fallback, in case none of the nodes in range have the requested data.
There. That's just greatly reduced the traffic the internet needs to route, added considerable redundency and greatly enhanced the experience for mobile use by allowing for much more effective caching of static content. Two parallel networks, each doing what they are best at. Packet-switching for low-latency 1-to-1 communications, and CAN for dissemination, static content and publication.
Now I just need to find someone with a few hundred million to invest in new infrastructure to support this thing.
Put another way, "It's 2013, damnit, how can it be I'm sitting here without toilet paper!"
Why would I let my appliance choose my grocery provider?
Because, based on current tech trends, it will be totally locked down and unable to order from anyone else? Or, at least, it will take a 30% cut of everything you buy.
Or in a sealed baggie in the tank. You wouldn't want a random house guest to leave you without TP.
Rhapsody in Numbers