How about, in 15 years, you'll have the same dead end job where your managers are getting paid more than you are and you have nothing to show in your life except for some bytes on some company's hard drive and you still get up and perform the same routine you always have?
We're really at the top of the curve for technological advancement without some kind of major energy breakthrough. If you want to practice your writing skills, do it somewhere else.
I laugh at the author's assumption that we'll be able to afford this excessive use of technology.
We use cylinder locks and metal keys because they're cheap and good enough.
We use alarm clocks with buttons because they're cheap, easily replaced, and good enough.
We use manually-turned valves to control hot and cold water, again, because they're cheap and good enough.
In short, almost all of our technology is minimalist, because once a technology is developed into a decent working system, there's not a lot of good in changing it for a more expensive system. I like my manual door locks, as there's a certain amount of skill required to pick one that a skr1pt k1dd13 can't download off of the Internet to use.
On top of that, can you imagine the cabling required to control all of these fancy gizmos? A lot of what's described can't operate off of wireless, it needs some physical control. Shower valves, for example.
Plus reliability is always an issue. We have a Clapper to control one of the lights and even it's not perfect, and it's simple.
About the only thing that I could see technology creeping into on your list is hot/cold water controls for showers. I'd love to be able to preset shower temperatures for my family. I can have the so-hot-it-almost-scalds-your-skin shower preset and my boys/wife can have their own temperatures that are comfortable to them.
That said, however, I'd expect that this kind of shower would be a premium-priced unit. Something that only 5% of consumers would buy. Most people would get the basic "fiddle with the an
Really? All it would take is some basic ability to detect who enters the shower: IR cam, simple radar, weight/charge sensor in shower floor, normal cam etc which cost very little and a control unit in the power shower casing. Actually, thinking about it I'm slightly surprised no one offers it already; possibly there's no real demand currently.
The GPs post was pretty far off though. We use devices because they are effective, stylish and for many other criteria. A £5 watch is pretty much as good as a
Here in Germany, in nicer apartments it's relatively common to have a separate water heater with electronic temperature control in the bathroom (crappy apartments don't have them; but I'd say the majority I've seen do).
It's common to simply set the max temperature to what you want to shower at, then when you jump in the shower, just blast it on full hot and you won't have to worry about it.
Sadly, no way to program different temperatures for different people, but the concept is there and pretty widespread.
One possible reason an advanced shower could become mainstream is if the cost of clean water goes high enough that it outweighs the technology to deliver it (which is quite possible in many parts of the world). Of course, given sufficient energy you can clean just about any water, so maybe the argument still stands...
The most egregious of which was fMRI to authenticate you...at an ad agency. That's seriously expensive hardware. I *might* buy something like that at classified sites, but not in 15 years. And anyway, it's cheaper to have conventional authentication and security guards who are there every day and simply know what you look like.
While most everything you say is true and most likely won't be replaced; you have to remember that this guy is a manager type in some advertising company and is possibly quite rich. We all know that the rich buy more expensive and useless shit, simply because they can afford it.
Another approach is that all this stuff is not likely to be around in 15yrs, but what about 100? IF we can all learn to get along, deflect global destroying asteroids, rid the world of religion and a few other minor adjustments(so
Ah, there's the rub- something better. Not simply something different or something technological simply for technology's sake.
The electric, plug-in alarm clock was an improvement and was simple to implement, but it required the invention of the quartz watch before it became practical. It was also an improvement because while it delivered the same goal as the mechanical one, it didn't require daily attention to make function. It also was cheaper to build than the windup clock.
I think there will eventually be a backlash. For example on cars, people don't want to control the whole vehicle workings on a touchscreen which requires looking at. They want buttons so the radio's volume can be adjusted without taking the eyes off the road.
As for keylocks, anyone who watches YouTube sees the automatic locks getting defeated left and right. At least a purely mechanical lock that is of decent security requires some manual dexterity to open, and picking a lock for more than a few seconds
In short, almost all of our technology is minimalist, because once a technology is developed into a decent working system, there's not a lot of good in changing it for a more expensive system. I like my manual door locks, as there's a certain amount of skill required to pick one that a skr1pt k1dd13 can't download off of the Internet to use.
Really? (Score:4, Informative)
How about, in 15 years, you'll have the same dead end job where your managers are getting paid more than you are and you have nothing to show in your life except for some bytes on some company's hard drive and you still get up and perform the same routine you always have?
We're really at the top of the curve for technological advancement without some kind of major energy breakthrough. If you want to practice your writing skills, do it somewhere else.
This whole article is tl;dr. Read an Asimov book.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
We use cylinder locks and metal keys because they're cheap and good enough.
We use alarm clocks with buttons because they're cheap, easily replaced, and good enough.
We use manually-turned valves to control hot and cold water, again, because they're cheap and good enough.
In short, almost all of our technology is minimalist, because once a technology is developed into a decent working system, there's not a lot of good in changing it for a more expensive system. I like my manual door locks, as there's a certain amount of skill required to pick one that a skr1pt k1dd13 can't download off of the Internet to use.
On top of that, can you imagine the cabling required to control all of these fancy gizmos? A lot of what's described can't operate off of wireless, it needs some physical control. Shower valves, for example.
Plus reliability is always an issue. We have a Clapper to control one of the lights and even it's not perfect, and it's simple.
Re: (Score:2)
About the only thing that I could see technology creeping into on your list is hot/cold water controls for showers. I'd love to be able to preset shower temperatures for my family. I can have the so-hot-it-almost-scalds-your-skin shower preset and my boys/wife can have their own temperatures that are comfortable to them.
That said, however, I'd expect that this kind of shower would be a premium-priced unit. Something that only 5% of consumers would buy. Most people would get the basic "fiddle with the an
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while I am a fan of the so-hot-it-almost-scalds settings, I find I have to quite slowly crank the shower up to that temperature to stay comfortable.
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The GPs post was pretty far off though. We use devices because they are effective, stylish and for many other criteria. A £5 watch is pretty much as good as a
Re: (Score:2)
Here in Germany, in nicer apartments it's relatively common to have a separate water heater with electronic temperature control in the bathroom (crappy apartments don't have them; but I'd say the majority I've seen do).
It's common to simply set the max temperature to what you want to shower at, then when you jump in the shower, just blast it on full hot and you won't have to worry about it.
Sadly, no way to program different temperatures for different people, but the concept is there and pretty widespread.
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The most egregious of which was fMRI to authenticate you...at an ad agency. That's seriously expensive hardware. I *might* buy something like that at classified sites, but not in 15 years. And anyway, it's cheaper to have conventional authentication and security guards who are there every day and simply know what you look like.
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The electric, plug-in alarm clock was an improvement and was simple to implement, but it required the invention of the quartz watch before it became practical. It was also an improvement because while it delivered the same goal as the mechanical one, it didn't require daily attention to make function. It also was cheaper to build than the windup clock.
For all of your other e
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I think there will eventually be a backlash. For example on cars, people don't want to control the whole vehicle workings on a touchscreen which requires looking at. They want buttons so the radio's volume can be adjusted without taking the eyes off the road.
As for keylocks, anyone who watches YouTube sees the automatic locks getting defeated left and right. At least a purely mechanical lock that is of decent security requires some manual dexterity to open, and picking a lock for more than a few seconds
Re: (Score:1)
In short, almost all of our technology is minimalist, because once a technology is developed into a decent working system, there's not a lot of good in changing it for a more expensive system. I like my manual door locks, as there's a certain amount of skill required to pick one that a skr1pt k1dd13 can't download off of the Internet to use.
Google bump keys.
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I like my manual door locks, as there's a certain amount of skill required to pick one that a skr1pt k1dd13 can't download off of the Internet to use.
Wait till 3D printers are ubiquitous, then yes, a skr1pt k1dd13 could download a 'hack' off of the Internet to unlock your manual doors.
Luckily you could update your door mechanisms with the latest open-source module, print it off along with a few new keys and be on your way...