The Internet of Everything, a superset of Internet of things, is a word that most of us have heard of. The recent buzz about smart cities has only added to the excitement of what is to follow.
While the big-shots, media, and techies alike are hung up on selling the idea and technology-enabled solutions to as many potential customers as possible, and marketers just waiting to cash in on the information high-tide and surf along, there are equally impending dangers nobody talks about that frequently. So, allow me to raise a few questions, and let's leave the answers to you.
1. The POWER Game: The food for IoE shall be electricity, and there are no two ways about it. The impending energy crisis will have quadrupled in the next 50 years. So the question here is, from where do we get the additional energy to feed the power hungry ecosystem? Moreover, who is to pay for the power, the users or the ones who earn from that ecosystem?
2. The Peek-A-Boo: As a marketer, you'd very much like to know the food preferences of your consumer, but let's turn the tables. Would you like to share the inventory of your kitchen with a third party? Sure, the idea of instructing your geyser to turn on right from your mobile phone sounds enticing, but would you allow a company access to the most intimate parts of your life, even if you're paid for it?
3. The Hack-able-ness: With data being the new currency, anyone who has the ability to trespass in your digital real-estate (yes, that's a thing) can potentially attack you. Going back to the basics, science is a very good servant, but a bad master.
4. Internet neutrality: Under the garb of 'security' and privacy concerns, internet neutrality might be a thing of the past. Yes, you read that right. The tug of war between proprietary and open standards render very little scope of democratisation of technology. And to sell you fuel, they need to sell you the car first right?
5. The dangers of uncertainty: Remember IRobot? Stephen Hawking has warned about the possibility being very real.The hullabaloo of an AI takeover, particularly in a world that would be as connected as IoE portrays, shall be as easy as flipping a switch. Technology ruling lives is a good thing only when the lives still exist. What next? More wars are inevitable and who knows?
The idea is not to stop technological development, it's just about looking beyond what the media is trying to sell you. It's about looking at what they are trying to hide from you, and then deciding for yourself. All these concerns won't be addressed till the user community pressurises the manufacturers.
So, can you think of something to add to the list? Drop the comments below.
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(This article was first published on kritified.blogspot.com)