The Internet of Things
When we consider the fact that the internet itself has only been around for about two decades we should be amazed at the progress and integration of the internet into our lives. Centuries ago it took weeks to to write out meaningful letters and ship them across the country, now it takes seconds to merely send a smiley face.
If we stop for a minute and look around, we see the internet everywhere. In our pockets (cellphones), in our glasses (Google Glass), on our watches (Samsung Galaxy wear). However, we have to consider the negatives of this expansive progression of the internet. Sure the benefits of having the internet integrated onto our toilets might be "amazing" to some, but then where would it stop. Integrated shoes and clothing? Integrated beds? At some point we will realize that the internet is beginning to resemble an invasive species.
Sure the internet is useful, who wouldn't want to order pizza from the refrigerator after it tells you that there is no produce inside. Sure it would be extremely useful if our washing machines would tell us when the wash cycles are done so we do not have to plan our days around cleaning. But, is it really worth it? Do we really need the internet to be facing us everywhere we turn?
I'm not advocating that the internet needs to be halted, but we need to remember how to be able to do things ourselves. When cellphone came out and had the ability to store phone numbers, that "ability" was lost from one generation to the next because it was not needed. With the introduction of the internet, we do not have to memorize every little detail, we can simply look it up online.
At some point in the near future, I'm willing to bet that the internet will be integrated into our brains via a small chip, just as we saw in the Black Mirror episode. At that point, what would life really be like? You wouldn't necessarily have to go to school for as long. You would just need to learn how to read and write. Everything else you could simply look up.
Sure this may come off as a cynical outlook on the Internet, and most may dismiss it because the internet has undoubtedly made our lives easier. But just because the Internet made our lives easier does not mean we need to dumb down everything else. The internet of things is something that we need to look out for, soon will come the day where we will come to value the answer over the process. Oh wait...