Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pros and Cons of Smart Systems

Source: http://www.briansolis.com/2009/08/breathing-new-life-into-virtual-worlds/

We live in a smart world. In a world where slowly but surely we have all become slaves of technology. We no longer can live without Facebook, Twitter, e-mails, phones, and other smart things technology has endowed us with so generously. In the book “Mirror Worlds,” Yale University professor of computer science David Gelernter wrote the following: “You look into the computer screen and you see reality. Some part of your world – the town you live in, the company you work for, your school system, the city hospital – will hang there in a sharp color image, abstract but recognizable, moving subtly in a thousand places.” This was written in the early 1990’s. Today, this description seems to fit surprisingly well into our lives.
A recent article in “The Economist” magazine argues that mankind is indeed building these “mirror worlds,” Gelernter was referring to, coding them simply as “smart systems.” Thanks to wireless networks, proliferation of connected sensors and cameras the real and digital worlds are now converging. A perfect example of such convergence is Google’s Earth and Street View services - the first replicas of the entire world. Smartphones also fall into the same category of converging the physical and the digital worlds. They are packed with sensors that can do lots of great things from tracking people to controlling appliances at home.
Experts say that smart systems are needed in many countries because of the ageing infrastructure. For example, monitoring patients remotely instead of keeping them in hospitals would cut down many expenses. Smart systems also have the potential to help dealing with environmental problems, such as global warming. IBM calculated that if the power grid in America alone were 5% more efficient, it would save greenhouse emissions equivalent to 53 million cars. According to Texas Transportation Institute, in 2007 Texas’ congested roads cost America 4.2 billion working hours and 10.6 billion liters of wasted petrol. Various economic sectors could also benefit from smart systems. For example, the chemical industry has already installed legions of sensors and actuators to increase its efficiency. One company in the paper industry achieved a 5% increase in its production “by automatically adjusting the shape and intensity of the flames that heat the kilns for lime used to coat paper.”
We can definitely benefit from smart systems . But we also need to think about what we all have to lose when adopting them. The first issue is privacy. We now start to realize that whatever we put online has a digital trace. The same concerns smart systems. According to Sam Palmisano from IBM, in London alone “there are now 32 closed-circuit cameras,” which make its citizens feel like they are living in a surveillance world, and not necessarily a safer one. In some countries smart systems can undeniably be used as an instrument of control. Who knows if in China, for example, the operations centers and dashboards being built for local governments will be used only to make its cities smarter and not for something else?
The other problem with smart systems is their vulnerability. They can easily be hacked and spin out of control. People can also become too reliable on them. Nicholas Carr, an American commentator on the digital revolution, in his book “The Shallows” claims that the Internet has already been lowering our creativity and profound thinking. So, with even more smart systems, we are at higher risk of losing whatever creativity and thinking we have yet left.
But the biggest danger about smart systems is that they may become “black boxes.” Citizens will not be informed about smart systems’ pros and cons, just because they may not have the knowledge or skills necessary to understand. We cannot deny the great potential smart systems have for improving our economy, environment, and overall quality of our lives. But, as world citizens, we need to understand what we are going for when adapting smart systems. Otherwise, instead of helping us, they will simply undermine our basic right – freedom.

Works Cited
“It’s a Smart World.” A special report on smart systems. The Economist. Vol. 397. No 8707. Nov. 6 – 12 2010.

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