Tonight, my husband and I got into a discussion about smart objects. I had been rather disappointed upon discovering the carton of heavy cream in our fridge had gone past its expiration date, and would thus be useless in the cheesecake recipe I was already elbow-deep into mixing together. "I wish there were a way the fridge could tell me if my groceries were going bad. Like that chicken - how many days do I have to use it? The milk carton? Or the quinoa...I don't even remember when I cooked that quinoa." I expressed that having a "smart" fridge would be awfully convenient for a number of reasons. While in NYC last year, I had happened into a Samsung demonstration space and had the chance to interact with smart fridges, washing machines and stoves. They seemed like the solution to a lot of problems I had run into in the mess of everyday life. I saw the connection between these appliances and the internet, and thus myself and my phone, as a valuable tool for control of the household.
"Yeah, but if it's connected to the internet then it's able to be hacked," he replied. "What if our smart toaster got a virus that forced it to always burn our toast? We'd have to deal with the virus, and also the burnt toast. You hate burnt toast."
He was right on two counts: dealing with an infected appliance would be frustrating, and I truly do detest burnt toast.
His comments sent me into a rabbit hole of research on what many know today as the Internet of Things. Before last year, I had never heard of the growing network of online devices that Forbes magazine explains as "people-people, people-things, and things-things" relationships. It turns out that I'm quite late to the hyperconnected party. The term Internet of Things, or IoT, was first named all the way back in 1998. Authors of the time predicted a future where the virtual overlays the physical completely, as "planet Earth will don an electronic skin." And while it may have sounded like science fiction twenty years ago, it doesn't feel like it's so far from today's world at all.
Refrigerators and toasters are just one small speck of what the IoT can and does look like. It has been said that anything with an on/off switch could be connected to the IoT, for better or for worse. Beyond household appliances, there are wearables such as watches, road sensors, cars, baby monitors, smart meters, and even dental floss. It's almost easier to list things they haven't been able to connect to the internet. With these connections comes a long list of issues and ethics to consider. Vulnerability, privacy, safety... when something is connected, it instantly becomes open for attack.
A burnt toast virus could be the least of our worries. What happens when pacemakers become connected and, therefore, hackable? Or when wheelchairs become uncontrollable? Tech enthusiasts have been holding hacking contests to explore these IoT soft spots and uncover some of the risks this hyperconnectivity presents. The results aren't comforting.
What are your thoughts on smart appliances and toothbrushes that communicate with your dentist for you? Do you see the IoT as a web of solutions and innovation, or a creepy invasion of privacy? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? Here's what some of the experts are saying about what the IoT means for the future of the human race. Feel free to weigh in with your opinions below.
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