From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Sep 04 2002 - 16:18:20 MDT
Extropes,
--- spike66 <spike66@attbi.com> wrote:
> Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
>
> >I doubt there are *that* many people with that much
> time on their
> >hands --
> >
> Robert, you and everyone you know is busy. There
> are plenty
> of idlers around. We just don't have much contact
> with them.
>
> > but there will at some point be sufficient
> computers to
> >track all the motion/travel vectors.
> >
> That would be cool.
This is David Brin "Transparent Society" territory.
With the growing ubiquity of wireless devices, even
without devices specifically devoted to surveillance,
society would be saturated with 'surveillance capable
resources': webcams, still cams, videocams, cell phone
cams, cell phone/conventional audio, home
phones/conventional audio, microphone-equipped PC's,
any 'smart' device (which is to say, soon, 'every'
device) with a sensory capability. Add to this a
whole range of devices specifically designed for
surveillance/security purposes. Given wireless
capability to connect them all, software to network
these devices and coordinate their activity, and to
filter out all but interesting events (the cam in your
living room shows a static picture, save for the
shadows moving slowly across the room, flashes of
sunlight reflected off of cars passing by outside, and
your pet wandering through the room. Data patterns not
so characterized are flagged for attention, and the
data streams are recorded and sent out as
appropriate.)
[Note: I don't want the govt/police in charge of the
'watching' part. Regular folks will be delighted to
take on the task of watchfulness. I'm thinking, too,
that with enough people taking part, and 'crime and/or
emergencies' low enough the individual burden may
actually be quite small.)
The location of each device in the network will/can be
known, so the location of any incident can be
pinpointed. Many of the networked devices will have a
set of eyeballs attached or nearby--PC-in-use, radios,
tv's, cell phones, cars in motion--so a legion of
responders is available, a few, simply to take a look,
or the entire legion, to jump into action if called
for. (This is clearly less effective in regions that
are sparsely populated or underdeveloped.)
The pieces to make this work are almost in place. The
start of such a system can happen as soon as the
software is written, reaching full effectiveness--my
guess--five years hence.
The internet was predicted to bring about big changes
in society. Blame a taste for immediate
gratification/shrinking attention span-- "We want our
tech now, dammit!"--rather than any slowness of pace
in the change itself for the (as yet) unfulfilled
expectations. A revolution in personal security is
just months away. It will start with the single most
emotionally absolute security issue--keeping the kids
safe. Safety for everything after that--which is to
say soon, everything else--is gravy.
The kid monitor is in the works already--called
something like 'whereis'. I've seen a piece on a
'smart bra' which monitors some
bioparameter(heartbeat?) that correlates with an
assumed emergency/need for help. I haven't heard
of--though I'm certain someone is working on
it--obvious as it is--the software that makes it all
come together.
The list membership seems likely to be uniquely
qualified to know who's working on this--not the bits
and pieces, but the coordinating software. I could
Google my way to an answer, but I have to go out and
paint the front porch. Could someone help out with
this?
Email was a killer app. Then spreadsheets. Save the
Kids is soon to be another. Seems like an extropian
investment opportunity, ya?
Best, Jeff Davis
"When I am working on a problem I never think about
beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong."
- Buckminster Fuller
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