IoT

先日郵便受けに「電力メータをスマートメータに切り替えました。」と書かれた電力会社からの通知が入っていました。スマートメータの導入により、電力使用量の検針員は不要になり、"Smart Grid" (grid 8/11/2008) の構築にも役立つのでしょう。Reader's DigestのDec. 2014号に 'The Internet of Things' と題された記事があり、冒頭に次の事が書かれていました。
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the name given to wireless connections between all sorts of devices, from household heaters to library books and pet trackers, each of which can be monitored and in many cases controlled by you remotely, from your smartphone.
そうすると、スマートメータも "IoT" ですね。略語の "IoT" は掲載していない辞書も多いのですが、Wikipediaの説明を一部引用します。
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. Typically, IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications.
'The Internet of Things' と言う表現を最初に使ったKevin AshtonがRFID JOURNALに書いた興味深い記事の一部を引用します。
That 'Internet of Things' Thing
In the real world, things matter more than ideas. And that's a big deal. We're physical, and so is our environment. Our economy, society and survival aren't based on ideas or information--they're based on things. 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. Yet today's information technology is so dependent on data originated by people that our computers know more about ideas than things.
技術革新により世の中がどんどん変わりますね。しかし、犯罪や戦争など昔から変わらずに多発して、進化がない世の中でもあります。