The Internet of Things 2025: Your life controlled by the smart gridMelissa Melton To start, Pew describes the Internet of Things as a global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases, and massive data centers in a world-spanning information fabric. In short, everything (devices, vehicles, appliances, smart wearables, and other sensor-equipped nouns) will be connected to everything else, and all of it will be continuously spitting out data that will be continuously fed back and forth and analyzed. The report Pew released covered a survey on expert opinions regarding the expansion of the Internet of Things by 2025. The Internet of Thingssigh. Not to get into Bilderberg here (thats a whole different topic altogether), but if Bilderberg is asking whether or not privacy exists at their annual conference this year, its obviously because they already know the answer. According to Pew, this Internet of Things is going to be pervasive throughout your community, your home and even on (or within) your own body. In addition to this fundamentally changing the way we relate to one another and the world, if you dont like it and you try to opt out, you could wind up disenfranchised; and, according to university librarian K. G. Schneider, those left behind during this so-called digital divide will become invisible outcasts on the fringe of society who could be increasingly seen as less than full humans. On top of everything else, the smart grid will apparently be so smart that, We will live in a world where many things wont work and nobody will know how to fix them. Gee. Great. I guess Ill be one of those less than full humans who can look forward to being disenfranchised by the Internet of Things in the future, because from everything Ive read about it, Id rather pull a Swiss Family Robinson and live in a damn tree than become part of what sounds like a pretty oppressive system. A cage with invisible, digital bars? Imagine a world where literally everything you do is spitting out bits of data on yourself and your lifecontinuously. Many people think were already there now, and we are in some ways, but whats going on with big data today is nothing compared to what the future holds. Do I want everyone from the government to mega-corporations to know what I threw away in my trash five minutes ago? Everything from how much hot water I used to take my morning shower or what temperature I like to keep my home on a hot summer afternoon to what my political beliefs are?Frank Pasquale, a law professor at the University of Maryland, told Pew, There will be a small class of watchers and a much larger class of the experimented upon, the watched. The NSA has already adopted that Police diddy, Every Breath You Take as their agency theme song at this point: every single dayAnd every word you say Hardly? I beg to differ. Do I really want to have spoken conversations with my smart appliances? Reminds me of the medicine cabinets in THX1138 that remind citizens in that dystopic future nightmare to take their state-sanctioned sedation pills. Recently I saw an ad for the new WI-FI talking thermostat the one where the guy starts out by saying hes going to let us all in on a secret, which is that voice control is the future. Instead of having to get up off your butt and punch a button if the temperature in your house isnt at a very comfortable level, you can just announce to your smart thermostat when you are too hot or cold and it is supposed to adjust the temperature in your home accordingly. The first thought that popped into my head was the thermometer responding in the voice of Hal from Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey with, Im sorry, Dave. I dont think I can turn down your thermostat today. Youve used all your energy credits this month and your region is at peak usage times Do I really want computers to know everything about me? Talk about losing control of your life. Thats just the beginning. Your behavior is going to be directed by the smart grid. Trendy, technocratic social engineering will dictate your existence at every turn. Soundssuper fun. Privacy wont just be forgotten. It simply will not exist, period. People are already forgetting what it truly is now. Two-year-olds are using iPads as if we never lived in a time where a toddler didnt have a computer. A few more generations, and our childrens dictionaries might as well not even have the word privacy in them anymore (and, by extension America, what will the 4th Amendment look like then?) Not all technology is a bad thing (obviously). Im just over the puppet master technocrats running things. (Smashing job so far, by the way). I can see where this is going, and its not anywhere Id like to be. Im not my data. Im still a human being. I dont want or need my computer (and by extension, anyone with access to it) to know me better than I know myself. I dont want to be ruled by algorithms. I want to have some control over my own destiny, thank you. Unfortunately, were all willingly funding and participating in our own digital enslavement to some extent. So whats your breaking point? College professor Peter R. Jacoby, who likened all this trendy new smart tech to the bread and circuses of the Roman Empire, wrote, By 2025, we will have long ago given up our privacy. The Internet of Things will demand and we will give willingly our souls. Related selfnews Post Article: Melissa Melton is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple, where this first appeared, and a co-creator of Truthstream Media. Wake the flock up! 