胡楊

Within the next decade the Internet could connect as many as 200 billion things—and not just machines such as cars or household appliances1， but anything that you can fit a chip or sensor2 into—including humans. These devices， collectively known as the Internet of Things， should make life simpler， even healthier， but can we trust them to look after us？

Whats next in the Internet of Things？

First it was portable， then it was wearable. Its now ingestible3 and implantable4...Whats next in the Internet of things？

The Internet of things （IoT） is transforming everyday physical objects that surround us into an ecosystem of information that is rapidly changing the way we live our lives. From refrigerators and cars， to parking spaces and houses， IoT is bringing more and more items into the digital fold every day.

Our homes， to give one example， could soon be tracking everything we do on a daily basis—from locking and unlocking the front door， to automatically ordering the groceries when the fridge is empty.

Whether we want this new level of automation， is another matter. But it wont be long before it is the standard and a new evolution in technology once again changes our lives.

What will be the impact of IoT devices on human kind？ Can they really change how we interact with one another？

在未來十年內(nèi)，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)可以連接多達(dá)2000億的各類事物——不僅僅只是像汽車和家用電器之類的機器，而是任何能夠安裝芯片或者傳感器的東西——包括我們?nèi)祟惐旧?。這些設(shè)備，統(tǒng)稱為“物聯(lián)網(wǎng)”，應(yīng)用它們會使我們的生活變得更加簡單，甚至更加健康，但是我們能信任它們可以照顧好我們的生活嗎？

物聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代的下一個特點是什么呢？

首先是便攜式，可穿戴。現(xiàn)在物聯(lián)網(wǎng)技術(shù)的特點是可吸收和可植入……那么物聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代的下一個特點會是什么呢？

物聯(lián)網(wǎng)正在將我們周圍的日常物理對象轉(zhuǎn)化成為正在迅速改變著我們生活方式的信息生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。從冰箱、汽車到停車位和住宅，物聯(lián)網(wǎng)技術(shù)每天會將越來越多的物品與數(shù)字融合。

舉個例子，我們的家可能很快就能追蹤我們在日常生活中所做的一切——從鎖門和開門，到家里冰箱空了的時候自動訂購食品。

我們是否想要這個新水平的自動化是另外一回事。但是這馬上會成為將會再一次改變我們生活的新技術(shù)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和革新。

物聯(lián)網(wǎng)設(shè)備將會對我們?nèi)祟惍a(chǎn)生什么樣的影響呢？這些設(shè)備真的能夠改變我們彼此之間打交道的方式嗎？

What will daily life look like？

Its 6 a.m. on Monday 1 October， 2025. The device on your wrist has sensed that youre waking up so it sends a message to your coffee machine to start brewing5. You delay the coffee and go for a run instead. While youre pounding the pavement， the sensors in your earphones detect an irregular heartbeat. The device sends an ECG readout to a cardiologist6. He sees that the arrhythmias7 are just harmless ectopic8 beats and decides to take no further action.

Back home， you have coffee and you put the empty cup in the dishwasher. The dishwasher is full， so it starts running. A sensor detects that the appliance is due for a service. It makes the appointment with an engineer and books a date in your diary， which you later confirm.

A couple of decades ago， dishwashers were one of the biggest causes of house-fires， but not anymore. The Internet of things—devices connected to each other over the Internet—has made the world infinitely safer.

From self-driving cars to smart pills that measure our health from the inside， the Internet in 2025 has become a custodian9 of our health and safety.

我們的日常生活將會變成什么樣子呢？

2025年10月1日，星期一，早上6點。你手腕上的設(shè)備感覺到你已經(jīng)醒了，因此它向你的咖啡機發(fā)出了一條指令，命令它開始煮咖啡。然而你推遲了喝咖啡的時間，轉(zhuǎn)而去跑步。當(dāng)你在路上奔波求職的時候，耳機上的傳感器檢測到你的心律不齊。于是設(shè)備發(fā)送了一張你的心電圖讀數(shù)給心臟病醫(yī)生，他發(fā)現(xiàn)你所發(fā)生的心律不齊是無害的異常性跳動，所以醫(yī)生不打算采取進(jìn)一步的治療措施。

回到家中，你喝完咖啡，并且將杯子放入洗碗機中。洗碗機滿了就開始運行。傳感器發(fā)現(xiàn)家電產(chǎn)品使用已經(jīng)到期了，于是它和工程師預(yù)約并且在日志里預(yù)定了一個日期，這些你稍后可以進(jìn)行確認(rèn)。

幾十年前，洗碗機是房屋火災(zāi)的最大原因之一，但現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不是了。用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)互相連接起來的物聯(lián)網(wǎng)設(shè)備已經(jīng)使世界無限安全。

從無人駕駛汽車到可以從體內(nèi)測量我們健康程度的智能藥丸，2025年的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)已經(jīng)成為我們健康和安全的保障。

Notes：

1. appliance n. 器具；器械；裝置

2. sensor n. 傳感器

3. ingestible adj. 可吸收的；可攝取的

4. implantable adj. 可移植的，可植入的

5. brew v. 釀酒；被沖泡

6. cardiologist n. 心臟病學(xué)家；心臟病科醫(yī)師

7. arrhythmia n. 心律不齊

8. ectopic adj. 異位的；異常的

9. custodian n. 管理人；監(jiān)護(hù)人；保管人