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Don’t fear the borg, fear the refrigerator.
Okay, we all “know” that computers are getting smaller and faster. We all “know” that wireless internet is growing like a phage. So let us take a broad jump into the not so distant future. Say, oh 10 to 15 years. First we need to make some smaller jumps in time and look at emerging technology with our God’s eye view of things. Standing in the present we notice that a company has made a refrigerator that has a computer built into the door. You can check E-mail, make a grocery list or leave messages for the clan. Interesting but not earthshaking. Moving forward a year or so we take out our CPDA. You know, that all in one wonder device that combines our cellphone, palm pilot and E-mail and videophone. We opted for the higher end model and we also have Word, Excel and a few hundred songs and video clips. The high speed internet access built into the phone also let’s us video conference or find out about anything or anywhere. Thanks to the built in GPS we will always know where we are on our journey. Traditional telecommunication providers pushed the wired network as far as possible a few years ago and have since been dumping trillions of dollars into expanding the high speed wireless network and integrating it into the existing wired network. The result is that no matter where you go you are always on. You can “hear me now” just about anywhere on earth.
Now that we have “internet everywhere” what has been done with it? There are a few gadgets out there but nothing really impressive yet. Let’s jump forward another few years.
The integrated circuit can now be printed on treated cardboard. It has begun to appear on the side on milk cartons, cereal boxes, condom packages and everything else that it can be stuck on.
Combining this with “internet everywhere” and some very small, task specific computers everything you buy, use, consume or touch can be tracked back to you. Here are a couple of examples.
Example 1
You are at the mall with your significant other. Not really spending any money, you are just out slumming around. When you entered the mall you forgot to put your CPDA on “private” as you walk along your phone gets messages from the stores, telling you about specials and new product offerings. As you walk by the software store your CPDA automatically downloads a demo version of the latest OS for your CPDA. Further along your CPDA is reminded by the computer located inside The Gap that your shirts are in. You subvocalize to your phone to accept and ship the shirts to your house.
Example 2
You are driving out of state to attend a wedding. (sometimes you have to go in person) as you are driving along a deserted stretch of highway your brand new car dies and won’t restart. You push the roadside assistance button on the dash, the car accesses the wireless net, notifying the roadside assistance people of not only where you are (thanks to GPS) but also the car transmits the error code from the onboard computer. The tow truck is dispatched with the correct part to fix your car. As you wait for the tow truck to show up you call up the web. You check your email, browse the web and do some paperwork that you forgot to do before you left the office.
Example 3
As you stumble out of bed and into the kitchen to make coffee you see that the screen on the fridge is blinking at you. Glancing over you see that it has compiled a grocery list for you. The list is created by the things you have used plus the results of your health monitor. Everything has an ID chip in it. Once it goes in the trash or the fridge determines that it is time to reorder based on the weight of the carton a list is generated. At the advice of your doctor you have begun monitoring your cholesterol and blood sugar level. The house PC communicates with the bathroom scale and the toilet (the toilet analyzes your stool to determine your health.) Based on this input your grocery and consumables list is created. You tell the fridge to “buy and deliver” Your groceries are delivered later that day.
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