November 4, 2010
In case many of you have been doing more important things than paying attention to the latest techno-apocalypitc developments, such as growing your own food, or stocking up on supplies, you may not have heard of the “Internet of Things.” And what is the “Internet of Things?” Well, from the perspective of the vast spy agencies, the internet has one fatal flaw: if you’re not on it, they can’t spy on you. Bummer. So, to get around this little inconvenience of privacy, the latest push is to get every physical object in the world online. That’s right. Everything from your car, to your toaster, will eventually be connected and controllable through the internet. It seems that the Gods on Mount Olympus have had such great success with the virtual world that they now want to bring everything into it. And that means more control for them and less freedom for everyone else.
The latest marketing-speak word from the architects of the “Internet of Things” at IBM is “smart.” So, in the near future, when the CIA can log into any device you own–from your toothbrush to your bookshelf–and determine who’s been using them and when and where, that’s not an invasion of privacy–it’s “smart.” Of course, in reality this is only “smart” for the temporary controllers of the machine world. For the rest of us the “Internet of Things” is not only dumb, it’s the next logical step to automating the entire planet under the control of a single machine intelligence. Fun times ahead!
