n Tech Strategies partner Karl Fogel.
“The scarce resource will continue to be human attention. There is a limit to the usefulness of devices that are worn in public but that demand attention because it is often socially and practically unacceptable to give those devices enough attention to make them worth the trouble of configuring and interacting with.”
5. Privacy is a big concern
When you see words like “pernicious” and “prison-like” in a debate, you know that it’s getting heated. Such is the case here.
“The effects will be widespread but pernicious. We might as well inject ourselves into the Internet of Things. By 2025, we will have long ago given up our privacy. The Internet of Things will demand – and we will give willingly – our souls,” said college professor Peter Jacoby.
“As Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer shows, the workplace plugged into the Internet of Things will be more productive and more prison-like (or, to be more accurate, more like an ‘ankle monitor’ of the mind that upgrades scanning not merely to location, but also to observable ‘outputs’ like typing and eye movements),” agreed law professor Frank Pasquale.
“Jonathan Crary’s 24/7 is also an essential guide to this future. It sets the stage for extraordinarily targeted monitoring and manipulation of these individuals. There will be a small class of ‘watchers’ and a much larger class of the experimented upon, the watched. Rules that govern institutional research boards should be applied here, too.”
6. But the Internet of Things could protect our privacy too
It’s not all bad. Smarter, wearable devices could protect our privacy rather than just intrude into it, according to some of the surveyed experts.
“We will wear smart clothes and smart things. The world will also be thick with smart things as well, including products for sale that communicate what they are, what they cost, and much more. Moderating between ourselves and the rest of the world will be systems of manners,” said Doc Searls, from Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
“So, for example, we might wear devices that signal an unwillingness to be followed, or to have promotional messages pushed at us without our consent. Likewise, a store might recognize us as an existing customer with an established and understood relationship. Google Glass today is a very early prototype and has little, if any, social manners built-in, which is why it freaks people out. New manners-friendly systems, and the protocols to go with them, will be worked out over the next five or so years.”
7. Interfaces will be about more than kung fu fighting
We’re already getting an idea of how we can interact with smart watches and augmented glasses, but what about a much wider range of connected devices?
“We look like kung fu fighters with no visible opponents now, but soon, the personalised interface issues will settle on a combination of gestures and voice. Thought-driven? Not by 2025, but not yet out of the question for a further future,” said ibiblio.org founder and university professor Paul Jones.
“Glass and watch interfaces are a start at this combination of strokes, acceleration, voice, and even shaking and touching device-to-device. The key will be separating random human actions from intentional ones, then translating those into machine commands—search, call, direct, etc.”
8. Health tech will be a big beneficiary
Fitbit is just the start of it, seemingly. “Health apps will be the most significant change. Things such as the Fitbit will evolve to allow passive monitoring of blood sugar, caloric intake, etc., as well as to be specialized for specific ailments in individuals—these will allow those who want to improve their heath to do so,” said Jim Hendler, professor of computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“Household objects online will have ways of being part of a broadcast network that can allow owners to be informed in case of recalls, problems, etc. Over time, there will be more direct inputs to the digital world. Technologies that can improve health monitoring will also allow a certain amoun