Experts split on the homes of the future

About half of 1,021 technology leaders think the homes of 2020 will be fully Internet-enabled, with computer systems doing everything from writing out grocery lists to fixing leaky faucets, according to a report released Friday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center

The other half of respondents think smart home technology will ultimately fail “due to difficulties in gaining consumer trust and because of the complexities in using new services. As a result, the home of 2020 looks about the same as the home of 2011 in terms of resource consumption and management.”

The report cites early uses of smart technology such as software being “designed to analyze [hospital] patients’ facial expressions for signs of severe pain, the onset of delirium or other hints of distress, and send an electronic alert to a nearby nurse.”

It’s encouraging that much of the theoretical technology described in the report is focused on smart and sustainable consumption of food, electricity and other resources. We’ve matured, at least, from our once utopian vision of irradiated foods and all-plastic dining sets.