Sustainable sci fi: the nano world of 2020

Peter Madden gets IT under his skin
By 2020, there’ll be billions of tiny computers embedded in pretty much everything: stuck on our food labels, woven into our clothes, even injected into our skin.

These computers will collect data and exchange information with one another, not just responding to needs, but actually anticipating them. Your fridge will monitor its contents and order fresh milk. It will also collect health data from implants in your body and sensors in your toilet bowl, and adapt your diet accordingly. It will even make suggestions as to what to eat, based both on your past choices and on those of other people like you.

We might see ‘smart dust’ sprinkled everywhere – in the form of tiny motorised processors with transponders. These will draw energy from their surroundings and communicate information on everything from security threats to the state of the environment.

While this sci-fi world might be scary to some, it is surely on its way. As the cost of computing continues to fall, as wireless broadband spreads, and as microchips get ever smaller, so it becomes more feasible. Your clothes shop already makes use of tiny tags to keep track of stock and send an alert if someone tries to steal it. Microsoft and others are developing software that allows cars, fridges and music players to share the same information. And Nokia is promoting a mobile phone that also monitors the user’s health and their surrounding environment, enabling users to pool their data and so build a picture of local environmental stress.

Ubiquitous computing could have sustainability benefits. It will give us lots more real-time information about what is happening, and – by making the invisible visible – could increase pressure for change. It could make sustainable choices easier. Imagine how much simpler using public transport willl be when we are all equipped with GPS, constantly updating both ourselves and the transport provider on where we are in relation to any part of the network.

Perhaps the greatest potential is to increase the efficiency with which we use resources. Energy use would be finely calibrated. Companies could monitor performance in real time and make micro-adjustments to maximise efficiency.  
Of course, there will also be downsides to chips with everything. Nano computers might end up polluting our ecosystems; privacy could be threatened because everyone and everything is monitored. And because so much will be known about our wants and desires, businesses may become ever more skilled at fulfilling them – fuelling more consumerism. 

In the end, as with many such technological advances, it’s how we decide to apply them that will determine their true sustainability impact.

Peter Madden is CEO, Forum for the Future.

24 November 2009

Peter Madden

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