Technology is advancing super fast, and is entering our lives more and more. Artificial intelligence is being used increasingly, and is appearing on everyday (even banal) activities - ever noticed the email autofill? Well, now also word documents are becoming smart (so smart that sometimes it suggests a better word than one I could have come up with (on a scientific manuscript.. ), based on the rest of the document…). Scientific manuscript that is probably about some potential for ‘smart farming’ to give out early warning indicators and help the practice. Or maybe about optimising some practices within the farming, so to waste less resources (like deciding based on some indicators when to go on site and perform a determinate activity , choosing the right densities, the right feeding quantities… Yes. The idea of 'smart things' has even made its way into my working world.. I mean, sensors and real time and really cool to play with.
We are in the era of ‘smart everything’ - everything yes, even trash cans: I recently saw an advert for a ‘smart bin’ for city centres. And upon googling it I was surprised to see already articles dated 2020 about them: they are meant to help administrations with the emptying, recording their fullness level and sending data live to a monitoring station that can both collect data to then make optimised ‘emptying tours’ or do punctual events of emptying, which will improve ‘urban decor’ .. So I went to look at what else are we making smart, and found a youtube channel with all possible smart additions to ones house, some of which could actually improve energy efficiency (in theory at least).. I mean, some may be useful - notifying you that you left home and did indeed leave that window open, or that the washing is done. Some are more ‘lazy options’ - like closing the blinds from your bed. But while they may be useful in potentially saving some energy and some time, can they really be considered ‘sustainable’? Let’s look at some numbers In 2021, there were more than 10 billion active Intenet of Things (IoT) devices. By 2025, there will be 152,200 IoT devices connecting to the internet per minute. It’s estimated that the number of active IoT devices will surpass 25.4 billion in 2030. The amount of data generated by IoT devices is expected to reach 73.1 ZB (zettabytes) by 2025. zettabytes!! if like me you only arrived at tera here is a definition for you A unit of information equal to one sextillion (10²¹) or, strictly, 2⁷⁰ bytes. ‘A zettabyte, incidentally, is roughly half a million times the entire collections of all the academic libraries in the United States.’ And well, the internet consumes a lot (remember?) - this great article explains well why there is nothing sustainable about going digital plus, there is the manufacturing of new objects, likely to become obsolete with new upgrades, and one need to have a look at how and where they are manufactured and whether human rights are respected (usually made in countries with cheaper production), then there is the material sourcing, the shipping and the throwing away of the items being replaced… So all in all, doesn’t look like THE solution that will change the world. At least not from a sustainability stand point. And I haven't even touched on the hacking risk scenarios... Let’s consider walking to the laundry room to check with our eyes whether the machine is done instead…
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