The so-called “internet of things” baffles and worries me. Perhaps because the examples have always been so vague. Boosters say, I have heard, there will be sensors in a refrigerator so a person can communicate with it. But how? And even if the technological mechanics get worked out, do I really want my refrigerator to text me that the eggs are running low when I am about to drive by the supermarket on my way home from work?
Yet, potentially less odd results might come from the internet of things. In the latest Economist, Schumpeter explores how a heavily wired world of things might change the nature of the economy in favor of sustainability.