The internet of things connects humans and things. It might be also viewed as physical things talking to each other which is then translated to provide services to humans. The internet of things is growing around us. It has posed the question of agency of the non-human actors. Computers enabled by AI do several operations, access and process data without human intervention. Hence, in the days to come the question of agency of the non-human network will become very important to us. Maybe we have to ask: are the things taking over? How do human relate to internet of things ? What is the future of this interaction? Maybe these and other question holds the clue to enable us to come to the understanding of the impact of this new technology that is fast mushrooming around us. We shall henceforth use the term IoT for internet of things. When human input , intervention and supervision are not required , we have to agree that IoT has come into its own. Hence, the issue of its agency is an important anthropological question.
We already used Radio Frequency Identification (RIFD) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) but the IoT offers greater possibilities of connecting, communication and acting. IoT is fast becoming a global network and thus offer possibilities at global scales. This network of things has bestowed God like powers on humans and therefore, humans like God can literary say let there be light and the room will be illuminated. IoT enables us to build smart ecologies. We can have smart homes, smart cars , smart classrooms, smart cities etc. The god father of the term IoT is Kevin Aston who coined it in 1999 in the context of supply chain management which then went on to cover wide range of applications .
IoT has several application. It has converted our digital world into a brigital world. It has also been called the phigital world. The network is able to sense the environment and access information or data , exchange it with other items in the network as well as react autonomously to the real / physical events and run processes that create services or trigger actions without human interventions. This is why IoT is a smart thing. But it is a mixed bag. It has security and privacy issues alongside the services that it provides us. It applications range from the personal, family-oriented , communitarian ( enterprise) , national and international scales. We connect several IoT infrastructures through our smart phones. Thus, from controlling our home alliance and doors windows for security , to health status/ tracking of individuals by connecting to medical health providers instantly, the IoT has several domestic applications that can serve individuals, families and communities. IoT has several important applications for education, health care institutions, airports , police and crime managing institutions at community level. It enables tracking of things and persons in these environment. Governments use IoT to enhance security, provide finance and other important services. IoT has several benefits but its security issues of being hacked by vested interest and consequent loss of control , loss of information and loss privacy are import issues that we have the challenge to address. With the coming of AI, the workings of IoT has optimized and opened other application but has also brought in risks which we have to carefully address. The risks are growing around privacy and loss of human control due to it surveillance and automation potentials of IoT.
We have to harness the benefits of IoT in a democratic manner. IoT is not a single technology. It is a beehive of technologies. With it, the internet becomes an enabling ecosystem of technologies. But who has control of over these technologies becomes and important issue. Their technopower can be used to exploit poor and gullible people. All of us are under the glaring eyes of surveillance. Hence, we have the challenge not to just be an anti-Oedipus who challenges the codes and laws of the new digital world but also have to become anti-Oculus who refuses to come under the glare of the panopticon of the surveillance apparatus. We even have the challenge to become a disassemblage that actively disorient the access of data by living unpredictably and even actively leading the data collecting sensors and remote activation processes astray. This means we have the challenge to be the Schizos and not an actor of the networks . IoT is a technical social actor. Its action is producing consequencies to us and our societies . The fact that humans are losing control over the network and are getting lost into the network of the IoT is a huge concern. While critically discerning the stand alone power of the IoT and what it can do to us , we have the challenge to shun aside propaganda that frames the IoT as democracy of Things. This network has the potency to dismantle the democracy and dignity of humans and therefore, we have the challenge to work to defend democracy and human dignity. We must stay aware that it is what we will do with the IoT will decide the future of this technology as well as the future of humanity. This is why the agency of the IoT is still not a big issue. This is because it is the use of the network that we will give it a future and shape our future. Hence, conscious and critical engagement is important at the same time one has the challenge to be anti-Oedipus, anti-Oculus, Schizo and Dissassemblage so that one is not fully enslaved by the IoT.
