The washing machine we chose, a reasonably standard model, turned out to have WiFi, an interactive display, and a highly personal app. This is apparently unexceptional these days. To be honest, it was a complete mystery to me why our new washing machine should want to access the internet, unless of course it was to contact the National Database of Missing Left Socks.

The Internet of Things (IoT for short) connects physical objects - just think of devices like coffee makers, Airfryers, central heating boilers, lamps, and smartwatches - with the internet and via this network with one another. The basic idea is that this enables them to offer smarter combinations of services beyond the capability of any one device. Imagine, for example, a smartwatch. Having spent the night recording the stages of my sleep, it notices that I'm waking up and lets the central heating and the coffee maker know that it is time to start work. Consequently, I get out of bed in a good mood and my students receive higher grades in their exams. Everyone happy.

So much for the theory. Reality is proving a little less rosy.

An example. In our living room we have a set of 'smart' lamps that we can switch on and off using an app on our cellphones. The app also lets us program various 'light moods', and in conjunction with the music app we can even start an interactive disco, should we ever want to (which we don't). Unfortunately with some regularity I receive the notification that the router cannot be found, the app first wants to run a software update or (heaven forfend!) my operating system is due for an update. Another unforeseen problem rears its head whenever I forget to recharge my cellphone. First off I have to find one of the rechargers, which tend to lead a nomadic existence in our house, then I have to wait until my cellphone springs back into life while I'd much rather go to sleep. Instead, grinding my teeth in frustration, I give up and start pulling the plugs out of the wall sockets.

Take note: this is only a single system. When we start introducing mutual dependencies between multiple connected systems, we will trigger a combinatorial explosion in complexity and in the level of unfriendliness this entails. At present even the governance of the Caribbean island of  Sint Eustatius is better organized than the Internet of Things. In 2020 it is expected that roughly some thirty billion things and gadgets will be connected to the internet and to one another. By that time, our washing machine most likely won't be among them.

Wijnand IJsselsteijn | professor of Cognition and Affect in Human-Technology Interaction

Illustration | Sandor Paulus