The Ecology of the Internet of Things
Ecologists talk of the circle of life and the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world — which, by the way, includes humans. Actions that have negative consequences for one part of the circle has the very strong potential to negatively affect whatever is connected to it. This ripple can continue for several steps along that chain of connectedness, or may disrupt the entire chain. The number of links in the chain that are affected depends, in part, on the number of connections to that individual link; its diversity.
Can the Internet of Things or the Internet of Everything evolve to such a point that it becomes its own ecosystem? Will a mesh of connectedness that spans continents create a world in which machine-to-machine communications is both powerful and fragile at the same time? Will Kurzweil’s singularity be about more than artificial intelligence becoming self-aware and transcending human intelligence— or perhaps something different altogether? It may be a non-sentient organism covering the globe with its web of connected things, creating an artificial ecosystem. A world in which nature’s web of ecological connectivity is mimicked by connected things that will redefine the nature of data and our relationship with it.
In Barry Commoner’s 1971 book The Closing Circle, he shares his four laws of ecology that, in more ways than are enumerated below, can be applied to the next generation of the Internet.
Four laws of ecology
- “Everything is connected to everything else.” The increase or decline of a species will have a more or less proportionate impact on those organisms or species that rely upon it as a food source or for some other mutually dependent relationship. The affect on dependent organisms or species will not be as great if the dependent organism or species have other ties and connections. In an Internet-connected world, this may mean that machine-to-machine communications will provide highly useful data that will improve the efficiency of the “things” we actively or passively interact with. It may also mean that a weakness or vulnerability in one component or “thing” can propagate when systems become increasingly interconnected and complex. The potential for unanticipated synergies, both positive and negative, is great.
- “Everything must go somewhere.” Matter that is converted into goods useful to society does not disappear when discarded. If that newly created object cannot be readily broken down by nature and absorbed back into the ecosystem, it will accumulate and possibly create toxins or poisons that threaten the health of the ecosystem. Mercury in fish is a good example. This Internet of Things machine-to-machine data will propagate and require storage and analytics solutions. Some data will be captured that simply relays the state of the “thing” (on/off, functioning/defective, ready/not ready, etc.). Once a connected thing reports its state and the information is stored or acted upon, its immediate value may disappear. Since the data may still be stored somewhere, it may be of value later in new applications or analytics that were not associated with its original purpose.
- “Nature knows best.” In Commoner’s book, he was referring to the evolution of hardy organisms that are genetically engineered to survive and thrive. That genetic engineering evolved from the a long period of natural selection. Regarding the third law, Commoner said “ . . . that any major man-made change in a natural system is likely to be detrimental to that system.” Nothing is created by nature without a concomitant system of enzymes or another natural process for breaking it down. Nature has mastered the art of recycling. Man is still a novice. Monitoring and extracting data from the world around us can be immensely useful, if that information is used to move us toward sustainable living and to improve the quality of life globally. Some have said that California’s wildfires are the result of fire management practices decades ago that resulted in the accumulation of dry brush that should have burned off naturally, in smaller quantities, if we had let nature run its course. Attempting to manage natural systems with sensors to maintain an equilibrium that is comfortable for humans can slowly change natural systems until they are no longer able to self-correct.
- There is no such thing as a free lunch. Commoner cautions “ . . . that every gain is won at some cost.” Everything that we extract from nature will need to be replaced at some point. The volumes of data that will be created by ubiquitous computing and sensor networks will require faster processors and big data solutions for storage and analytics needs. Data brokers will increasingly compete for contracts with businesses seeking to buy large volumes of seemingly disparate data that will give them a competitive edge.
Decades ago, it was not uncommon for the average family car to break down periodically and require regular tinkering under the hood to keep her road-worthy. Modern cars rarely break down anymore. Oil changes are required with much less frequency and the days of the shade tree mechanic are long gone. The Internet of Things may spawn a return to those days, except now drivers will be stranded in their driveways or on the side of the highway because of malware or programming bugs that were downloaded with the latest operating system upgrade. The connected things under the hood may create a layer of complexity that make troubleshooting and tracing the problem back to its source difficult.
Should these scary possibilities keep us from exploiting the vast potential that ubiquitous computing offers? Lets hope not. Lets hope that security will be a part of the new architecture, and not an add-on, like Internet 1.0 and Internet 2.0. I, for one, am looking forward to connected highways, homes, businesses and cities.
