Grist for Graffiti GHz

Do you ever watch the background noise of national and international "news"?  Do you notice studies that clearly indicate organic food is better for you because it puts fewer chemical solutions into the environment and thus reduces your exposure to exotic concoctions, making your children less likely to get cancer or detrimental diseases?

I want solutions, not promises.  If one political party blames another for problems, then is it not the system itself that created and does not resolve the problems?  Perpetual perennial political complaints - a permanent fixture of our species, perhaps?

Enough about parties.  I'm interested in a technology solution for another party right now.

While reading the Singularity Hub blog about mobile phones and cellbots, it occurred to me that instead of having a house respond to me through a token (pendant or RFID badge), why not have my home communicate via the Bluetooth or whatever signalling method freely available through my mobile phone?  No need for an embedded device (although my brain implant works just fine for me - others may find such surgery too invasive and expensive to maintain).

That way, my talking picture frames, furniture, clocks and shop tools can speak to multiple people at once (imagine a lawnmower saying, "Uh, Rick, you haven't changed my oil in a while," and then later telling my wife that I'd mow more often if she'd compliment me on the hard work and fine-looking lawn I cut with such a smart lawnmower and "Oh, by the way, your husband is a lucky man to have a compatible companion who cares for him like you do.").

I could easily create a home that talks to me about the weather, its "aches and pains," and can ask me about my day (using open-source psychological software (e.g., LISP)).

Definitely, a serious cybernetic future.

Some people's cars are already talking to them and can do more than respond to simple commands - will we soon carry pocket psychologists with us (I'd say "psychiatrists" but could a mobile phone diagnose and prescribe medication?  Who knows!)?  Would your friends pass the Turing test any better than a clever virtual friend who records and analyses your life because it has no internal self-important life of its own?

One of our cars talks to us but doesn't listen - I guess we're all like that sometimes, aren't we?