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Eric Schmidt: Our Perception of the Internet Will Fade

Posted by Soulskill on from the augmenting-our-reality dept.

Esra Erimez writes: Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted a change in how we perceive the internet. Schmidt says, "There will be so many IP addresses, so many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with that you won't even sense it. It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic. And with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room."

18 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. If all goes well. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or, without your permission, they are interacting with you.

    1. Re:If all goes well. . . by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Happens right now. Google gets your permission to vacuum the contents of Gmail, liberate data from your Android phone, and then somehow, removing "personal identifiable information", liberates this data and sells it to others, who reassemble the information.

      Permission, I believe within this context, is another of Schmidt's reality distortions. The Internet of Crap will indeed require interactions, and they'll be two states for you to interact: by the facade of your permission, and by devices querying your to obtain metadata to interact with you and then send the results to some hadoop cluster in SeaLandia for, um, additional processing.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re:If all goes well. . . by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And this isn't even accounting for the Internet of Broken Crap, or the Internet of Badly-Implemented Crap.

      Think it's annoying when that one door at work won't open because cheapass RFID controller has a channel burned out that's supposed to trigger the solenoid? Imagine when your coffee maker won't work because it doesn't detect that you've gotten up and into the shower, or the HVAC doesn't kick on for the room you've just entered because the house computer didn't detect occupancy, or the surround sound system malfunctions and thinks there's a party, so it turns on the music loudly at 3am, or the fridge's inventory list gets corrupted and it reorders everything that you have in an already full fridge...

      I expect the future to be more like Brazil than like Star Trek.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:If all goes well. . . by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Home automation enthusiasts quickly discover that it's wise to always pick equipment that has a manual override, and does not depend on the master controller or even its own electronics. Light switches that function independently of the controller, locks that can still be opened with a key if necessary, etc. And even when no device is broken, the software still craps out or does something unexpected, or needs changes. Some people add an "I am dead" switch to set their HA setup to full manual mode, so that other members of the household can still turn on the lights or the coffee maker in case the system craps out and the expert happens to be away.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re:If all goes well. . . by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you've summed it up rather nicely. Brazil, yes.

      I've had one of my smoke alarms(the are brand new, and are wired to the house current) go off in the middle of the night. Scared the bejeezus out of me. I ran around at 3am looking for a fire that wasn't there, nor was there smoke... I am still wary of those things.

      Events like that are just the tip of the iceberg if we give control of our homes over to nonsensical "smart" IoT devices. Bad updates, security issues, constant rebooting, replacements on backorder from a factory in China that is down because of an earthquake, botnets constantly banging on the door to take control, etc;

      --
      We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    5. Re:If all goes well. . . by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The biggest problem with home automation is 'life happens', eventually you want to put things into a state that was never originally anticipated.

      Maybe the computer thinks, windows are open = turn off HVAC, or switch to fan only etc. Trouble is grandma stopped by and burned her Christmas cookies, smells terrible in the house, you want the windows open but you want to also leave the heat on, so you don't freeze.

      Now you have to go override some "smart" system some where. It all ends up being just as much work as turning things on and off by hand was in the first place.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  2. Switch off; turn on! by monkeyzoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic. And with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room.

    Wow. Does he realize how completely out of touch with reality that sounds? He says *imagine* when in the future, with [my] technology, you will be able to "interact with the things going on in the room."

    NEWS FLASH! I can now, Eric Schmidt. And anyone can. All you have to do it turn off your cell phone and begin interacting!

    1. Re:Switch off; turn on! by rogoshen1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      what he's really envisioning is the panopticon, and Google gets to be the warden.

    2. Re:Switch off; turn on! by Kierthos · · Score: 4, Funny

      With most modern cell phones, the off button can be difficult to find. However, if you use a 10-pound sledgehammer on the phone, you can be certain that it's been pressed.

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
  3. with permission, you are interacting with the room by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What happens when two people enter the room, and they have different preferences?

    Spouses already fight about the thermostat; who's preference is "the house" going to pick?

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  4. The idea of "with your permission" is a joke by schwit1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The advertising and government snoop won't really ASK for permission. It will be a Hobson's choice. Refuse to give permission and your devices stop working or you wind up on a watch list or worse.

  5. Yawn ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yawn, whatever there, Eric ... more bullshit futurism about how the wealthy will live.

    I don't think people really want the internet of things, and every time someone says "ZOMG, look at teh future" I mostly think they're talking out of their ass.

    It makes a great sales pitch, but generally futurists are snake oil salesman and marketers claiming their pet technology will change the world, but which would require zillions of dollars and some massive fundamental changes to everything around us.

    And the rest of us will have plain old lamps and sofa which aren't telling everything to Google about our daily lives.

    The petty ramblings of billionaire technologists really is mostly drivel.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Yawn ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know, I'm long since past the point where I fetishize technology. In fact, it often bores me to death, because it seems like it's technology for the sake of technology and doesn't add value to my life -- just clutter.

      I don't carry a smart phone ... well, I do, but it hasn't got a data plan. It gets used to send text messages mostly. It has wifi, but it's mostly off.

      I don't see personal value in controlling my lights from my smart phone -- or, for that matter, lights which change color. And definitely not color changing lights which are networked and talking to my smart phone.

      Color changing networked lights connected to my smart phone learning my habits and schedule, reporting that upstream to google and doing who knows what else that it's not telling me about and signalling to my fridge that the butter should be softened because I might be home soon ... well, I'm afraid you've lost me at that point.

      In fact, I find the prospect downright creepy.

      Sorry, but I don't see my mission in life as owning every conceivable piece of technology and integrating it so tightly into my life that a power outage is going to leave me in the fetal position in the corner as I suddenly am disconnected from the world and can't turn on the lights.

      So, I'll sit on my front porch shaking my first at you guys and your doo-dads and focus on things which don't end up with me having a chip implanted up my ass which lets the toilet seat know to start pre-warming because the frequency of sphincter contractions indicates an impending poo, and tells google to give me ads for toilet paper because I'm running low.

      I'm afraid I simply don't care enough to play that silly game. :-P

      Not get off my damned lawn!!

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. Lip service, Eric Schmidt can go fuck himself by BitZtream · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And with your permission and all of that

    Could you be more of an asshole?

    First off, when did Google start asking permission BEFORE it just did privacy invading shit?

    Second, how many times have you (Schmidt) basically said you didn't give a fuck about peoples privacy or their wishes and that you were going to get your way eventually anyway?

    Lets be realistic here Schmidt, you don't mean a word of what you just said. What you mean is that you want devices in every room analyzing everything everyone does in an attempt to figure out how to sell them to advertisers for a higher rate. THAT IS WHAT YOU MEAN.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  7. Behold! The future is now! by wcrowe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can already interact with things in the room. When I want the lamp to come on, I walk over and turn a little knob. When I want the TV to come on, I press a button on a remote. Behold! The future is now!

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  8. No thanks. by AntEater · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been in the tech world since the 80s and I'm not finding this vision of the future enticing at all. Now fully in middle age, I'm starting to regret the days and years of my life that have been wasted staring into a monitor or playing with the next gadget. I'm not convinced that having the internet seamlessly integrated into my life would be a desirable thing. I'm discovering that there's more pleasure and contentment in the reality that exists outside of the world of pervasive connectivity. I don't want to be constantly "interacting" with devices, nor do I want Mr. Schmid's company to have more opportunities to analyze my behavior and target me with more marketing messages.

    Embrace the analog world.

    --
    Alex, I'll take keybindings not used by Emacs for $400....
  9. LOL, have you even met a child? by netsavior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My kids range in age from 5 to 9. This is already how they see the world.

    Their first hint that the internet is a thing that you have to think about was when they got wifi devices and tried to use them in the car as we drove away from the house.

    Before they made that realization, it was just something that things did. Part of the expected infrastructure of existence.

  10. Re:with permission, you are interacting with the r by bigwheel · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Spouses already fight about the thermostat; who's preference is "the house" going to pick?"

    The one who named his dog "Sudo"