[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Re: Why so little real interest inIntelligent Homes?

spike spike66 at comcast.net
Fri Oct 21 22:40:26 UTC 2005



> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-
> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Terry W. Colvin
> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 10:46 AM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: [extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Re: Why so little real interest
> inIntelligent Homes?
> 
>  >INTELLIGENT homes where curtains can be drawn at the push of a button,
> 
> >ovens switched on by phone and the housework done by robotic vacuum
> >cleaners are not that far off in the future, research claimed today.
> 
> Quite a few of the ideas put forth in the smart home concept are just
> asinine, you have to wonder what these people are huffing.
> 
> Take the above-mentioned remote-control oven. Please. This is often
> imagined as an oven you can control over the net. OK, even if we pretend
> that the security issues have magically gone away, we're left with one
> question: why would ANYone want such a thing?...
> 
> Dave Palmer

I don't see why not.  You put in a frozen dinner, the kind 
that takes a long time to cook.  The oven would have a 
cooling circuit in addition to gas heat, so it would
keep the dinner frozen while you are away, which could
be days or weeks, and you might return in the middle
of the night.  I know a lot of people who have work
schedules like this.  

The technology to do something like this is already 
here however: for a price you can set up a cooling 
oven with a telephone operated control, security 
codes and adequate fire protection.  It isn't a 
consumer level product yet, but the people I know 
who travel a lot have enough money to set up 
such a custom oven. This one might eventually 
catch on with a small segment of the population.  

Remote vacuum cleaners are already here; Fry's
electronics peddles them.  They don't work very
well, but they come out in the day and wander 
around on the carpet or floor.  They can't empty
themselves.  Power curtains are old news, they
were available years ago.

Jetson's-style video phones?  I use one at work
sometimes, we have had them for at least 20 
years.  Not a lot of advantage over the traditional 
audio only.

Think of these things as a modern version of 
sculptures and paintings.  Art is unnecessary and 
expensive, but it always sells to people with money 
to blow.  That which is often described as the home 
of the future is actually the current home for people 
who have a lot of money to dump into unnecessary 
luxuries.  Calling it future tech is equivalent to 
predicting that the proletariat will be prosperous 
in the future, which fits my vision perfectly.

spike








More information about the extropy-chat mailing list