The internet of things – a Luddite speaks

An alternative view at last! I thought I was alone in feeling a chill of dread each time I read an article breathlessly extolling the advances of IoT (internet of things) and (AI) artificial intelligence.
Last year, Elaine Herzberg died under the wheels of an “autonomous” taxi. A few years ago, CIA operatives Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek successfully hacked into a self-driving Jeep Cherokee and managed to “turn the steering wheel, briefly disable the brakes and shut down the engine”. Two Boeing 737 Maxs have nose-dived to earth because they thought they knew better how to drive themselves than the pilots. For years, the US National Security Agency has been undertaking “access operations” to implant trojans such as “Dropoutjeep” onto iPhones that can grab all personal information and turn the thing into a “hot mic”. China is taking the technology to new heights with its smartphone surveillance experiments in Xinjiang.
Back to more immediate personal matters. On-off switches no longer turn things on and off; instead the decision is left to a recalcitrant piece of software. Do you object when, trying to turn off your printer, it returns a message “Busy. Try later.” When your car bleats at you with angry red lights shouting “DOOR OPEN” do you, like me, scream at the bloody thing: “I KNOW THE DOOR’S OPEN, I’VE JUST OPENED IT AND WANT TO GET OUT.” Appliance manufacturers are now bragging that all new appliances will be IoT-compatible. Does anyone want this?
The relentless advance of IoT and AI is dragging us towards a Terminator-style dystopia which will delight Arnold Schwarzenegger. The two menaces outlined above – opportunities for mischief by totalitarian state governments and threats to public safety – are joined by a third: hacking incidents are rocketing with IoT and we are heading into a cyberwar the likes of which we have never seen.
Now I know how Ned Ludd felt, back in 1779.
Nigel Pike
Phang Nga