Eric Schmidt: Our Perception of the Internet Will Fade

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."

Comments

If all goes well. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:If all goes well. . .

[TWX]

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.

Re:If all goes well. . .

[Sir_Eptishous]

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;

Switch off; turn on!

[monkeyzoo]

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!

The idea of "with your permission" is a joke

[schwit1]

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.

Yawn ...

[gstoddart]

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.

Re:Yawn ...

[gstoddart]

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!!

Lip service, Eric Schmidt can go fuck himself

[BitZtream]

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.

No thanks.

[AntEater]

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.

LOL, have you even met a child?

[netsavior]

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.