22 April 2009

Smart Home

Someone hooks a building's mechanical systems up to Twitter so that it can tell people things about itself – like when to expect the next elevator, at what point certain lightbulbs need to be replaced, which floors need mopping, and what its general maintenance schedule might be.
But, instead, it goes AI on the world.
It starts to complain about unappreciative guests and loud neighbors; it wistfully remembers former residents from years gone by. There was that rainy afternoon last summer, it writes, when that woman from the fourth floor got on an elevator...
It tweets at midnight, and at 2am, and as people come and go for lunch. It gets lonely. It makes things up sometimes; people laugh and re-tweet it.
It's just a dumb little building somewhere in an overlooked city in America – but it has thoughts.
And soon it wins the Pulitzer Prize...

[found @ BLDGBlog]

1 comment:

Strangelove said...

exista deja ceva in directia asta - o planta care comunica prin twitter diverse chestii (cand are nevoie de apa, cum mai e vremea pe-afara etc). fara AI, dar directia spre asa ceva e inevitabila (visul omenirii, eh?).

mult mai interesant mi s-a parut articolul despre twitter, mai ales pentru ca exista tot felul de pareri negative fata de serviciul asta si motivele existentei lui. cele mai multe dintre ele se opresc la nivelul superficial al lui "de ce as vrea sa stie prietenii mei ce fac eu tot timpul". ceea ce mi se pare la fel de stupid cu a spune "de ce as vrea sa fiu gasit la telefon oriunde as fi" sau "de ce as vrea sa imi fac prieteni pe internet cand oamenii din viata reala sunt mult mai interesanti".