I don't disagree with anyone here, but I will say that this is another future projection - someone in the past created a vision of the future, and that vision is finally becoming reality in the present. When you read what Google is describing, you realize they are envisioning the same kind of 'smart home' that science and science fiction has talked about since the 1950's.
But there's a difference. In all of these imaginings, from Futurama in 1939, Monsanto house, Push Button Manor, and all the science fairs, EXPO's, and all the episodes of The Jetsons, the big difference is that the smart home is part of your family, and the smart home belonged to you. The home was your property, it was an integral part of your private life, and it was bound by the same ideas of confidentiality as your doctor, your priest or your lawyer would be.
Google is not offering new ideas. All they are doing is realizing a bunch of very old ideas. The smart home is something that we've always wanted, and we shouldn't stop wanting it. It's the future, and it could be very cool.
I want a smart house. I want Alexa. But I don't want it to belong to Google or Amazon. Everyone I know keeps some aspect of their private lives private, and we definitely don't want to trust our private lives to Google.
P.S. PeaKr's image of the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys (four posts up) is doubly ironic since it looks like there is a camera in the lower left of the image.
But there's a difference. In all of these imaginings, from Futurama in 1939, Monsanto house, Push Button Manor, and all the science fairs, EXPO's, and all the episodes of The Jetsons, the big difference is that the smart home is part of your family, and the smart home belonged to you. The home was your property, it was an integral part of your private life, and it was bound by the same ideas of confidentiality as your doctor, your priest or your lawyer would be.
Google is not offering new ideas. All they are doing is realizing a bunch of very old ideas. The smart home is something that we've always wanted, and we shouldn't stop wanting it. It's the future, and it could be very cool.
I want a smart house. I want Alexa. But I don't want it to belong to Google or Amazon. Everyone I know keeps some aspect of their private lives private, and we definitely don't want to trust our private lives to Google.
P.S. PeaKr's image of the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys (four posts up) is doubly ironic since it looks like there is a camera in the lower left of the image.