What does the future hold? According to futurist Amy Webb, tech giants will literally take over our homes.
“In 2029, there’s a good chance you’ll be living in a Google, an Amazon, or an Apple home–you and all of your data, biometric and otherwise. Adding smart devices to your house may have started as a way to make your life and your energy use a little more efficient. But 10 years from now, it may blossom into a full-scale operating system that has automated your life in ways you don’t fully understand,” Fast Company reported.
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All aspects of your life will basically be controlled by the ecosystem you are in.
“The microwave decides you should be on a diet and won’t let you eat popcorn,” said Webb, a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the founder of the consulting firm Future Today Institute. “The washer decides you can get another day out of those jeans. Your garage decides you should walk to work.”
And once you are in an ecosystem it will be difficult to escape it. “Your smart home is a smart prison and there is no escape,” said Webb, who authors a report called Emerging Tech Trends annually. “You can unplug your microwave, but you can’t unplug your whole family from the system.”
Is this really possible? According to Webb, the signs are there.
More and more people are setting up smart homes. There are smart thermostats, smart toilets, smart blood pressure monitors, smart ovens, smart TVs, and in 2018, Amazon debuted a smart microwave that users can talk to.
Also, the number of voice-activated devices is increasing fast. “The total number of voice interface-powered devices increased 78 percent year-over-year, according to a report from NPR and Edison Research. As of January 2019, 53 million Americans own a smart speaker, and a staggering 8 percent of people in the U.S. received a smart speaker over the 2018 holiday season,” Fast Company reported.
