Which modern technology “enables us to send communications…with the quickness of thought, and to annihilate time as well as space”?
If you answered “the internet,” you’re right. If you answered “the telephone,” “the television” or any other speed-of-light telecommunication technology, you’re also right. That quote is from an 1860 book by George Bartlett Prescott, an American telegraph official.
In 1860, the fastest telecommunication link between California and New York was the Pony Express, which took at least 10 days to get a message to the other side of the continent. Then one day in 1861, the First Transcontinental Telegraph was completed and you could send the same message across the continent in 10 seconds. Two days later, the Pony Express officially ceased operations. Prescott was onto something.
The Ancient Greek word “tele” means “far away”. To telecommunicate is to communicate farther than you can shout. When you connect two points with a speed-of-light telecommunication channel, you annihilate the spacetime-distance between the points. You get a kind of wormhole.
The internet is a network of spacetime wormholes connecting every human being on the planet. If you want to chat with someone face to face, you just stare into your cell phone and they stare into theirs. You can’t tell if they’re a thousand miles away, or in the next room.
But when it comes to physical things, we’re still living under the tyranny of spacetime. Kevin Ashton, the inventor of the term “Internet of Things”, wrote in 1999: “We’re physical, and so is our environment … You can’t eat bits, burn them to stay warm or put them in your gas tank. Ideas and information are important, but things matter much more.” Just look around the room right now, at anything other than your cell phone. All the things you can see and touch depend on where you are in space, or on how much time you spend moving yourself to a new location.
That’s a problem, because at any given moment, most of the things you care about aren’t in your line of sight. Almost none of the food you’re going to eat that day is. Almost none of the appliances you’re going to use that night are. That’s the tyranny of spacetime, which the internet of things is now beginning to overthrow.
The internet of things has three major spacetime-annihilating functions:
- Transportation – making far away things come to you
- Teleportation – instantly getting copies of far away things
- Telepresence – interacting with far away people and things
Transportation
In the past, far away things had no way to know what you wanted from them or when you wanted it. The right things wouldn’t know how to find you. So you’d have to travel to where the things were — to a restaurant, to your house, to various stores.
If you shop on Amazon instead of going to the store, you’re on the internet of things.
The Latest Google Headlines on: The internet of everything
[google_news title=”” keyword=”The internet of everything” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on: The internet of everything
- Woster: The almost unfathomable capacity of the interneton April 26, 2024 at 4:36 pm
"It’s hard to sort fact from misinformation, real news from deliberate distortion," columnist Terry Woster writes.
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Tech journalist and author Kara Swisher downplayed crypto's transformative potential, comparing it to a minor eruption versus the internet's major explosion. Swisher criticized crypto's hype and ...
- Shares of Internet of Things Play Impinj Soar on Strong Earnings and Outlookon April 25, 2024 at 8:02 am
Impinj stock skyrocketed Thursday after the chip provider offered robust guidance and better-than-expected earnings. The company manufactures radio-frequency identification, or RFID, chips for ...
- Internet of Things (IoT) Market to Expand at a Stellar 19.4% CAGR through 2031 | SkyQuest Technologyon April 25, 2024 at 3:45 am
Market will attain a value of USD 1572.37 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 19.4% over the forecast period (2024-2031). Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of connected devices over the ...
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Carriers are starting to offer home internet packages that rely on 5G cellular data service. We’ll help you decide if it’s right for you.
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- The Power of Connectivity: 10 Ways the Internet of Things Reshapes Industrieson April 18, 2024 at 5:24 am
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- Innovative Impact: 10 Ways the Internet of Things Redefines Our Worldon April 17, 2024 at 6:24 am
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the Internet of Things (IoT) stands out as a groundbreaking phenomenon. With its ability to connect devices and enable seamless communication ...
- How a Quantum Drum Could Change Everything About the Interneton April 16, 2024 at 11:03 am
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute have developed a new way to create quantum memory: A small drum can store data sent with light in its sonic vibrations, and then ...
- Internet of Everything (IoE) Market: Anticipated Surge with a Predicted 15.2% CAGR, Forecasting US$ 5.0 Billion by 2033on April 15, 2024 at 6:56 pm
The Internet of Everything (IoE) market is projected to be worth US$ 1.2 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to grow to US$ 5.0 billion by 2033, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.2%. This ...
The Latest Google Headlines on: Internet of Things
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Internet of Things” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on: Internet of Things
- Focus Universal Inc. Announces Board Approval for Spin-Off of Lusher Inc.on April 26, 2024 at 5:47 am
Chief Executive Officer Desheng Wang stated, "We are excited that our management team received authorization from our Board of Directors to start the spin-off process for Lusher Inc. Lusher Inc. which ...
- Shares of Internet of Things Play Impinj Soar on Strong Earnings and Outlookon April 25, 2024 at 8:02 am
Impinj stock skyrocketed Thursday after the chip provider offered robust guidance and better-than-expected earnings. The company manufactures radio-frequency identification, or RFID, chips for ...
- Internet of Things (IoT) Market to Expand at a Stellar 19.4% CAGR through 2031 | SkyQuest Technologyon April 25, 2024 at 3:45 am
Market will attain a value of USD 1572.37 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 19.4% over the forecast period (2024-2031). Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of connected devices over the ...
- Internet of Things in Healthcare Market to Surge to USD 471.20 Billion by 2031: Industry Analysis, Technologies and Competitorson April 22, 2024 at 8:48 am
Internet of Things in Healthcare Market to Surge to USD 47120 Billion by 2031 Industry Analysis Technologies and Competitors ...
- Internet of Thingson April 21, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Silicon Labs is aiming at battery-free harvested energy applications with xG22E, a family of wireless microcontrollers covering Bluetooth Low Energy, 802.15.4 or proprietary 2.4 GHz links. “As Silicon ...
- Global X Internet of Things ETFon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
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- Exploring the Digital Frontier: 10 Exciting Ways the Internet of Things Impacts Societyon April 17, 2024 at 7:07 am
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- Innovative Impact: 10 Ways the Internet of Things Redefines Our Worldon April 17, 2024 at 6:24 am
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the Internet of Things (IoT) stands out as a groundbreaking phenomenon. With its ability to connect devices and enable seamless communication ...
- The security minefield of the Internet of Thingson April 15, 2024 at 2:24 pm
When IoT devices run on outdated firmware or do not get updated regularly, they become easy targets for cybercriminals.
- Mode Inc. raises $8.75M to build generative AI assistant for the internet of thingson April 9, 2024 at 6:00 am
San Mateo, California-based Mode Inc. today announced it raised $8.75 million in new funding to accelerate the development of its generative artificial intelligence assistant for factories and ...