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Brace yourself to the new era of digital world: it’s not “Uncle Sam” that you need to worry about now rather the “Ubiquity of Data”: a construct of data triangulation that can reveal a more intuitive detail about our physical world and us. It’s all about making sense out of things, collecting structured and unstructured data through various means such as sensors, cameras and other digital sources and turning it into wisdom (or is it?). Popular buzzword for it is “BigData”; however, I am not here to discuss the notion of “Big Data” rather a brief on possibilities created by the technological advents that blend “physical” and “digital” world and how it affects us all.
Brace yourself to the new era of digital world: it’s not “Uncle Sam” that you need to worry about now rather the “Ubiquity of Data”: a construct of data triangulation that can reveal a more intuitive detail about our physical world and us. It’s all about making sense out of things, collecting structured and unstructured data through various means such as sensors, cameras and other digital sources and turning it into wisdom (or is it?). Popular buzzword for it is “BigData”; however, I am not here to discuss the notion of “Big Data” rather a brief on possibilities created by the technological advents that blend “physical” and “digital” world and how it affects us all.
You
may go insane if your notion of thoughts has negative twist: you are
carrying an implant (well, almost) of data intercept, the “Smartphone”.
Every time, you pass through one of the wireless access point (WiFi AP)
or similar endpoint device, you are advertising your presence.
Nowadays, many stores and shopping malls are equipped with wifi and/or Bluetooth APs. It can actually get little uglier than that; your smart phone may already equipped with GPS, couple that with your cellular transmission (2G/3G/4G) and the constant outburst of wifi beacons from your smartphone: you are tracked. A simple RF triangulation can find you within 5 feet of your physical presence. This emerging trend of IPS (Indoor positioning system) can even go far beyond just finding you, it can even push adequate product offerings/coupons to your smartphone if you so choose: and, did I say yours’ buying pattern? Your whereabouts and behavioral patterns can now be plotted digitally and synchronized.
However, MIT’s Media Lab has a positive twist for such otherwise pervasive digital intrusion, they name this possibility of understanding human behavior through digital data plotting as “Social Physics” and advocating it’s vast promises for societal benefits including the possibility of creating cooperative, productive and creative entities and societies (MIT, 2014). Such notion of mapping our physical world and us is just beginning: it is permeating to all aspect of our very life and even to some extent defining our behavior. The accelerating pace of technological advent that makes this blurring of physical and digital world is astonishing. We are talking about few years in the future and by 2020 such blurring of physical and digital world would be a sheer reality.
Despite the concerns for privacy and fact that various aspects of our life can be plotted or tracked, and/or exploited, the trend of intelligent networks has more to offer than it’s negative connotation. I tend to look at the prospects of intelligent networks a good thing for humankind.
For example, IOT (Internet of Things) and cellular M2M (Machine-to-Machine) are in fact contributing to our well-being in many ways. Think of a pill camera: you swallow a small pill it travels through your gastrointestinal systems to provide intimate details to physician.
Nowadays, many stores and shopping malls are equipped with wifi and/or Bluetooth APs. It can actually get little uglier than that; your smart phone may already equipped with GPS, couple that with your cellular transmission (2G/3G/4G) and the constant outburst of wifi beacons from your smartphone: you are tracked. A simple RF triangulation can find you within 5 feet of your physical presence. This emerging trend of IPS (Indoor positioning system) can even go far beyond just finding you, it can even push adequate product offerings/coupons to your smartphone if you so choose: and, did I say yours’ buying pattern? Your whereabouts and behavioral patterns can now be plotted digitally and synchronized.
However, MIT’s Media Lab has a positive twist for such otherwise pervasive digital intrusion, they name this possibility of understanding human behavior through digital data plotting as “Social Physics” and advocating it’s vast promises for societal benefits including the possibility of creating cooperative, productive and creative entities and societies (MIT, 2014). Such notion of mapping our physical world and us is just beginning: it is permeating to all aspect of our very life and even to some extent defining our behavior. The accelerating pace of technological advent that makes this blurring of physical and digital world is astonishing. We are talking about few years in the future and by 2020 such blurring of physical and digital world would be a sheer reality.
Despite the concerns for privacy and fact that various aspects of our life can be plotted or tracked, and/or exploited, the trend of intelligent networks has more to offer than it’s negative connotation. I tend to look at the prospects of intelligent networks a good thing for humankind.
For example, IOT (Internet of Things) and cellular M2M (Machine-to-Machine) are in fact contributing to our well-being in many ways. Think of a pill camera: you swallow a small pill it travels through your gastrointestinal systems to provide intimate details to physician.
I
collected the above illustration from Dr. Levent Efe's website at
http://www.leventefe.com.au/ . The picture provides great insights to
the many possibilities that IOT brings to life and well-being. The use
of smart objects to blend physical and digital world is only going to
increase and for good reasons: it is mutually beneficial for the
businesses and us (well, let’s hope).
However, one thing is missing from this whole equation is the regulatory oversight and the policy that protects consumer from potential exploitation and at the same time, create the path for technological advents to continue for our common goods.
However, one thing is missing from this whole equation is the regulatory oversight and the policy that protects consumer from potential exploitation and at the same time, create the path for technological advents to continue for our common goods.
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