The focus of the electronics and consumer goods industry has been on the development of "smart" devices or appliances that are able to provide or exchange information and, as a result, have capabilities far greater than their analog predecessors. Take the lowly thermostat for example - in its primitive form, it came with two settings - on and off. This resulted in either a lot of wasted energy if the device was left on the whole day, or uncomfortable surroundings if it was left off. The emergence of the programmable thermostat changed this and allowed homeowners to set timings for the device to turn on and off.
The "smart" thermostat takes this to an entirely new level - it allows you to remotely access and control the thermostat and make adjustments all while checking to see how much energy is being consumed in the house. Is this really necessary? How much additional efficiency can one realize from such a device? Or are people paying for the "convenience" of being able to have this control, even if they use it only once in their lifetime?
The smart fridge is an even bigger white elephant. It's one thing to have fridge that can control the temperature to reduce energy usage - but why would you need a fridge that keeps track of what items are in it and automatically generates a list of what to buy on the next trip to the grocery store? Since when have humans become incapable of opening the fridge door and doing a 10 second scan of the contents?
The reality is that the consumer goods industry, having become a victim of its own success in rolling out more efficient and longer lasting products, now has to contend with falling sales. So their only option is to invent new "needs" and try and satisfy them with icing and cherries. Every industry faces this at some point in time, and because the mantra is "keep manufacturing no matter what", the obsession with novelty is perpetuated.
Let's focus on applying smart technologies where it really makes sense - where humans are not physically or mentally capable of undertaking the same task in the same amount of time. For example, controlling the flow of traffic in a city is beyond the reach of any single human, and unless one is willing to hire hundreds of traffic police, the only solution is to implement an intelligent controller that ensures the major roadways are moving and any bottlenecks are quickly resolved. You don't need a car that somehow senses the level of sunlight is too high and automatically changes the window tint to reduce the glare.
The "smart" thermostat takes this to an entirely new level - it allows you to remotely access and control the thermostat and make adjustments all while checking to see how much energy is being consumed in the house. Is this really necessary? How much additional efficiency can one realize from such a device? Or are people paying for the "convenience" of being able to have this control, even if they use it only once in their lifetime?
The smart fridge is an even bigger white elephant. It's one thing to have fridge that can control the temperature to reduce energy usage - but why would you need a fridge that keeps track of what items are in it and automatically generates a list of what to buy on the next trip to the grocery store? Since when have humans become incapable of opening the fridge door and doing a 10 second scan of the contents?
The reality is that the consumer goods industry, having become a victim of its own success in rolling out more efficient and longer lasting products, now has to contend with falling sales. So their only option is to invent new "needs" and try and satisfy them with icing and cherries. Every industry faces this at some point in time, and because the mantra is "keep manufacturing no matter what", the obsession with novelty is perpetuated.
Let's focus on applying smart technologies where it really makes sense - where humans are not physically or mentally capable of undertaking the same task in the same amount of time. For example, controlling the flow of traffic in a city is beyond the reach of any single human, and unless one is willing to hire hundreds of traffic police, the only solution is to implement an intelligent controller that ensures the major roadways are moving and any bottlenecks are quickly resolved. You don't need a car that somehow senses the level of sunlight is too high and automatically changes the window tint to reduce the glare.
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