# The internet of things **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776 "2014-05-19T22:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/21 "2014-05-21T16:31:58Z")
I agree that it’s not an enormous revolution. The beauty is not in transforming our lives. It’s in subtlety and seamlessly allowing us to make more sense of more information. Twenty years ago, I waited for the weather report on the morning news to know what to wear to work. Ten years ago, I checked a website before heading out. Today, I glance at my smartphone. Tomorrow, my mirror will tell me that I should put on a heavier coat, consider stepping it up a bit because I have a bit because I have a big meeting that day and my contact tends to dress formally in her social media pics, remind me I wore that necklace last week, and recommend I wear flats because I just missed the bus and should walk the subway. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/22 "2014-05-21T17:15:58Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Tomorrow, my mirror will tell me that I should put on a heavier coat, consider stepping it up a bit because I have a bit because I have a big meeting that day and my contact tends to dress formally in her social media pics, remind me I wore that necklace last week, and recommend I wear flats because I just missed the bus and should walk the subway. Well…as long as it’s got Paul Bettany’s voice then _I GUESS_ I’m OK with it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/23 "2014-05-21T17:47:03Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I agree that it’s not an enormous revolution. The beauty is not in transforming our lives. It’s in subtlety and seamlessly allowing us to make more sense of more information. You sure about this even sven? It will not not be an enormous revolution? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/24 "2014-05-21T21:15:00Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > You sure about this even sven? It will not not be an enormous revolution? Uh, no? This is just idle speculation. I think it’s like smart phones. Smart phones have made out lived better. But they haven’t really changed the substance of it, just enhanced it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/25 "2014-05-21T22:28:09Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I imagine it will make crime much tougher than it is now. How has the worked for the internet of smartphones? Maybe if people administered their stuff right, but the password for 90% of the refrigerators out there will be “password.” I’ve read somewhere that some smart refrigerators have already been taken over as spambots. Plus, if your refrigerator can take voice commands (which will be coming) someone can hack into it, turn on the microphone, and listen in. Ditto for smart picture frames. The walls will truly have ears. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/26 "2014-05-21T22:30:56Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > One example: My university is evaluating a [smart parking lot](http://www.streetline.com/) in which every stall has a little sensor that can tell whether a car is parked there. That information gets uploaded in real time to the Internet, so students can tell which parking stalls/lots have open spaces without having to circle the whole campus over and over. In practice, I’m worried this means they’ll all be looking at phones and squishing pedestrians as everyone blindly races towards the same open space, but hey, that’s the cost of progress. Apparently some cities already use this system and it seems to work well, but I don’t know its impacts on vehicular accidents. The long term parking garage at SFO has something similar already - a display at the entrance tells you how many open spaces there are on each level. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/27 "2014-05-21T22:34:00Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Legend has it that in the early days of the internet (mid 1970’s or so?), when only geeks at certain universities and research places (like Bell Labs) had access to it, that > a group of people (grad students at CMU?) had a lab in an upper floor of a building, and there was a vending machine on the ground floor. They built an interface in the vending machine that detected whether it had various items or was empty, and put that on the internet. Thus, they could tell when it was sold out without having to go downstairs and look. Some dorm at MIT had the washers and driers hooked up so that you got mail when your load was done, and you could look to see if there were free ones from your room. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/28 "2014-05-21T22:54:11Z")
Just wait until your smart thermostat, smart air conditioner and smart windows start arguing about what the temperature should be. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/29 "2014-05-21T23:00:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Just wait until your smart thermostat, smart air conditioner and smart windows start arguing about what the temperature should be. The basis for a 21st century 3 stooges? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/30 "2014-05-21T23:20:15Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Just wait until your smart thermostat, smart air conditioner and smart windows start arguing about what the temperature should be. I would think that the smart air conditioner and smart windows would be slave devices, the thermostat the master/controller. The air conditioner and windows only need to be “smart” amongst themselves. (Best practices/way to operate). This is kind of basic stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/31 "2014-05-21T23:52:39Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Just wait until your smart thermostat, smart air conditioner and smart windows start arguing about what the temperature should be. A few more years, they’ll be arguing about who gets to eat the last human. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/32 "2014-05-22T04:23:14Z")
Well, if we’re gonna get paranoid and all, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28Terminator%29) is what needs the " Internet of Things" in order to become fully operational and achieve self-awareness. I kid you not… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/33 "2014-05-22T04:24:18Z")
On the internet, nobody knows that you are an inanimate object. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/34 "2014-05-22T04:32:05Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > On the internet, nobody knows that you are an inanimate object. Sure they do. Its called the Turing[test.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test) And you just flunked, njtt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/35 "2014-05-22T08:14:44Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > I would think that the smart air conditioner and smart windows would be slave devices, the thermostat the master/controller. The air conditioner and windows only need to be “smart” amongst themselves. (Best practices/way to operate). This is kind of basic stuff. Just wait until the master thermostat disagrees with the back-up master thermostat, and decides to take matters into its own, uh… circuits. Hey, why is it so hot in here? I’m sweating buckets! You trying to fry us all? _Turn the damn heat down!_ I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/36 "2014-05-22T08:47:06Z")
Like I said in post [32](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28Terminator%29), things will work out all right… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/37 "2014-05-22T09:12:04Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Sure they do. Its called the Turing[test.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test) And you just flunked, njtt. 🙂 A sense of humor might make for a more accurate test criterion. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/38 "2014-05-22T17:09:58Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Just wait until the master thermostat disagrees with the back-up master thermostat, and decides to take matters into its own, uh… circuits. > > Hey, why is it so hot in here? I’m sweating buckets! You trying to fry us all? _Turn the damn heat down!_ > > I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that. See “Naught for Hire” by John Stith in Analog. He has a bunch of other stories about this character and world, and someone was going to make a series but it fell through. AI in appliances - probably the most accurate view of the future out there. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/39 "2014-05-22T17:18:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > A sense of humor might make for a more accurate test criterion. Sorry if I flunked the humor test njtt. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776/40 "2014-05-22T17:32:30Z")
The Internet of Things is also good for things that need their condition monitored, especially if humans are not that great at it. A few years back part of a major bridge in Milwaukee had a “partial collapse” a span of roadway dropped a few feet. The bridge had been inspected within the past month, but clearly something was missed. Now, build a few hundred cheap sensors into the structure to measure movement, stress, etc. (I’m not an structural engineer, so I don’t know precisely what else), and you have a bridge that reports it’s health constantly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-of-things/688776.md?page=3)