Smart for Sustainability
What the future holds for us.
Bei Chen Li in his article The Next Generation of Citizens describes me as a Gen 2.0 citizen and I agree with him. I grew up in a period of transition. I was thinking about what is the most spoken language on earth. Is it Chinese? Hindi? or English? No, It’s the data that the 7.8 Billion people on this earth generate which is being used for communication by IoT technology. IoT removes boundaries between man and the internet.
So what is IoT?
According to Wikipedia,
“The Internet of things (IoT) is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware (such as sensors), these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled”
IoT is the beginning of a new era. Back in February 2017, Gartner, one of the leaders in IT research said that in 2017, there will be over 8.4 Billion IoT devices in use and the number is expected to reach 20.4 Billion in 2020.
So, how is IoT the beginning of a new era? IoT can bring the solution to some of the biggest problems faced by our planet today.
Healthcare
IoT technologies can be used to bring convenience to doctors and patients. Technological advancements such as real-time monitoring, patient information management, and IoT enabled healthcare systems can reduce the time and help reduce costs of medical treatment. The body sensor network (BSN) technology is one of the core technologies of IoT developments in the healthcare system, where a patient can be monitored using a collection of tiny-powered and lightweight wireless sensor nodes. IoT can bring a revolution to healthcare helping save lives.
Education
Thanks to the current Coronavirus situation, I don’t need to stress on the importance of IoT in education. While the world has come to a standstill, I can still continue my life by studying, learning, writing this blog, and give my exams from comfort of my house. This very module, Digital Society can be the basis of delivering education in university for the next semester or until the situation is better. Prepare and Reflect is something I feel should be in every module and in every class for every student.
IoT gives birth to Smart Cities
The UN projects that 68% of the world population will be living in cities by 2050 and The World Bank says cities generate over 80% of the GDP. This data is enough for us to know that we need to improvise our current infrastructure to adapt to the growing needs. IoT can do miracles here by shaping the lives of people living in cities to create ‘Smart Cities’So what are smart cities?
Like any smart system, a Smart City is one in which sensor-driven data collection and powerful analytics are used to automate and orchestrate a wide range of services in the interests of better performance, lower costs, and lessened environmental impact.
A smart city is capable of solving many issues in society.
Healthcare
A Smart City can be very effective in tracking and locating diseases and Infections. South Korea, like many other nations, was hit hard by the Coronavirus. However, it used smart technology to fight it more effectively than any other nation.
Water and Power
Water and energy are some of the most important resources and their availability is limited. IoT devices can be used to create smart homes and offices. Now, resources will be used only when needed and will shut off automatically when we don’t need them. This can save us a humongous amount of these resources. This technology can also be used in city resources to save energy.
Pollution
In 2019, the UK became the first country to declare a Climate Emergency. IoT can be used in smart cities to reduce pollution levels at magical rates. Devices can be installed in factories to trace pollution output and help the government develop policies to reduce these levels. IoT can be used in traffic lights to reduce traffic congestion, to suggest smart care most efficient routes, and to increase fuel efficiency.
However, Designing and installing IoT devices in a smart city is very costly. The global market for the Internet of things (IoT) end-user solutions is expected to grow to 212 billion U.S. dollars in size by the end of 2019. You also need a strong network with a massive database.
Drawbacks
So now you must think IoT is so good and revolutionary why does every home have IoT, why is the government not investing to make every city a smart city?
“Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day, and it’s only going to grow from there. By 2020, it’s estimated that 1.7MB of data will be created every second for every person on earth.”
A question that arises is, who owns this data?
If the government can access it, so can hackers. Facebook and google trade this date, but there are criminals who can potentially access this data and trade it without caring about the law. Capitalism is of the past, the digital society has given birth to ‘Surveillance Capitalism’.
Privacy is now a myth. Every movement and every activity is recorded. Any mistakes, any past opinions of yours can come back to haunt you in the future. There should be new laws and code of ethics and a global cyber law body to enforce it.
Advancements in cybersecurity are not keeping up with the advancements in technology. There should be more investment in cybersecurity so that people feel more safe using IoT devices and living in smart cities.
It is my opinion that cyber warfare is the future of wars and more dangerous than nuclear warfare
When I chose this course, I was very confident about it. Being a massive social media addict, and working part-time in social media marketing, I assumed I would enjoy this module. I was right about enjoying this module, but it was in a very different way. Firstly, I was amazed by learning about the history of the internet and what it took to reach the technological capability that we have today. I learned about the internet and how I had no privacy at all. Believe it or not, it took me 3 days to delete many old tweets, Facebook statuses, and Instagram posts which I wasn’t very sure of. I learned how employers and others can stalk me and know more about me without myself even knowing that they exist. I think twice before I update my status now before I retweet anything. Another thing I learned is that every human, every business, and every product is not what they are on the internet and that it is not safe to open every email or hyperlink from random strangers. I am terrified to learn how there are thousands of people who more about me than my own parents. This module has started making me use my head more. I have had to do a lot of research on topics and technologies I previously did not know existed. I have started making more informed decisions, not just about academic work, but related to everything. I think with less bias and this has helped me make better decisions. Taking up this module has helped me improve my essay writing skills which have benefitted me in other modules. I have had so many wow moments when I learned about the positive changes technology can bring to our troublesome world. This was followed by more wow moments when I learned how smart hackers can be and the amount of damage hackers have done in the past decade. The best thing about this course is by far the last part where I learned about the future employment market. I now know some of the skills which every future job will require and how I need to grow as a person to keep up with the increasing technological progress in our world. I can now decide better about what kind of jobs I can do and want to do. I know how important the way we present ourselves online can be. I’m glad I took this course.
