The alarm clock rings next to Jack at exactly 6 am. Born out of 15 years of habit, the first words out of Jack are, “News, Please.”. A clear, female human voice instantly rattles out the results of the football match Jack missed the night before as he was too busy at work, followed by the most up-to-date news about the health care industry, and finally finishes off with the latest investor sentiments of the drugs company he has been a CEO of for the past decade.
During the five minutes it takes for Jack to listen the news tailor cut to exactly what he needs to know, Jack slips out of his pajamas and into his track suit, not forgetting to strap on his smart watch. The watch analyses his body temperature, runs a check against his medical records, and within seconds, charts out the work out plan most suitable for Jack’s 55 year old physique.
Jack goes out for a jog in the clear, crisp morning air, shouting out greetings to his neighbor John, and John’s pet bot, King. King runs along side Jack for a few meters, and suddenly bounds forward. King stops in its tracks and indicates Jack to do the same. Jack sees that the reason for King’s behavior was the approaching Bolt, the latest driver-less electric car from the stables of Toyota. The Bolt also slows down and stops, and flashes it’s lights for Jack to cross the road. Jack knew that both King and the approaching Bolt used the internet and various built in sensors to figure out that they all need to come to a stop in order to avoid any untoward incident from occurring.
Jack returns home after a healthy workout, and the door of his two storied house opens up. The temperature inside the hall has already been set to keep Jack comfortable when he returns, having received his body temperature from the watch Jack had worn. When Jack slips into the shower, he is pleased with the temperature of the water, also set neither too high nor too low.
On his way to office in the Zeus, his own driver-less electric vehicle made in Germany, Jack glances through all his work mail, which has already been sorted on what would be most important for him to read, based on the content present in the mailers. Jack experiences the least of troubles in reaching work, as the Zeus takes him through town in the path taking the least time. As Jack sits on his desk, all the relevant reports are already pulled from the cloud and downloaded onto his screen.
And thus beings another long day at work for Jack.
Is this story for real? Well, if you ask anyone this question on this same day, another couple of years from now, you would receive a resounding ‘Yes’ as a reply. Google has stopped being a search engine many years ago. It is now a powerhouse. In the recent past, Larry Page has overseen acquisitions like he was building a fantasy kingdom with everything he could dream of having a Google tag on it.
DeepMind Technologies, an artificial intelligence company; Nest Labs, Inc a smart thermostat maker; Tesla, an electric car maker; and the list goes on…and on….and on. Google is definitely making use and driving the concept of The Internet of Things. It will probably soon control everything we own, and if not, it will definitely soon be making everything we still don’t know that we cannot live without.
Are we ready for this? I feel the real question is, does it really matter? Let Larry Page live out his dreams. It is only making my life easier. I am not yet sure if I should ponder whether it is becoming a bit too easy for my own good.
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