The Jetsons May Not be Considered Futuristic for Much Longer

Gadgets in homes and cities with “ambient intelligence” collect information which could identify and react to health, safety, and environmental problems.

Article from: Scientific American
Images from: Scientific American and Google Images 

The Jetsons show, filled with robots, flying cars, and food appearing out of nowhere at the touch of a button, is set in 2062. Fifty years from now, our technological advances may surpass the expectations set up by this iconic children’s show. Artificial intelligence, sensor networks, and robotics research may not be leading us to flying cars, but they are making leaps and bounds toward a future much more impressive than our anticipations. Today’s homes are moving closer to closer to the smart houses our society looks forward to, with the help of sensors and networking devices. The computer software for these smart houses will gather information from appliances, smart phones, computers, and other devices. It will then use the information about the home’s physical environment and the state of its inhabitants to meet the needs of their residents, through adjustments in the heating and cooling, lighting, and other resources. This ability of artificial intelligence and data-mining technologies to seek and act on information about resident behavior and the home’s environment is known as “ambient intelligence.” The primary function of this “ambient intelligence” is to monitor the health of residents, make the home energy efficient, and facilitate communication within and outside of the home. Researchers have been studying the potential of this technology to help retirement community residents in Seattle to live independently for longer amounts of time. They have been conducting this study for a year, examining the ability of the sensors in the residents’ apartments to monitor motion, energy use, and other conditions. This research hopes to eventually move from smart homes to smart cities. The sensors around these cities will gather information about important factors for daily life, including air quality, traffic, and weather. They could then make adjustments, such as improving traffic flow or providing warnings to residents about weather or air quality. However, this technology must, of course, respect the privacy of the people it is designed to assist. Researchers must consider the legal, privacy, and ethical issues involved. Ambient law will have to be introduced to establish rules in order to protect the individuals that live in smart homes and cities.

 

This article concerns the future of our homes and cities. Technological advances are being developed in a variety of fields, at least one of which will affect our everyday living. This technology could help us with energy efficiency and health issues, among other things. These developments may be most influential for our aging population. Older citizens may be able to do more on their own with the help of advancements in “ambient intelligence.” Though we do not know what the next few years will bring, it looks like this technology could bring many changes to the way we live at home and in our community. In the not-so-distant future, we could be living like the Jetsons, if not better.

Unlike most of my generation, I do not feel too comfortable relying heavily on technology. I can’t help thinking that we should be wary of anything that thinks and acts on its own. Perhaps I’ve watched too many movies, but I fear that handing too much control over to machines could be a bad idea. If nothing else, it takes jobs away from humans, when we should be trying to create more jobs. I believe in making and doing things for ourselves, rather than having someone make something that will do everything for us. While this could be very helpful and highly beneficial to certain members of our community, I do not want our society to get lazier than it already is.