> From Reuters,
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000607/wr/intermachines_dc_1.html
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Washing machines will soon be surfing the Internet and
> electronic paper will start making telephone calls, technology guru Nicholas
> Negroponte told the International Advertising Association (IAA) on
> Wednesday.
>
> [...]
>
> ``Advertisers will have to advertise Tide to the machine, not to the
> housewife,'' he said.
I actually like this picture, machines taking on a degree of autonomy
and interacting directly with each other.
It reminds me of the agoric computing model designed by Eric Drexler and
Mark Miller. In this system, software agents coordinate their efforts
with an economy of their own. One agent may provide computing services
to another, but only in return for payment. Agents will bid competitively
to acquire work. Theoretically this could be a highly efficient system.
Why shouldn't your washing machine take on the responsibility for ordering
the laundry detergent? If it doesn't do a good job its software can be
wiped and replaced. Only successful programs will survive and prosper.
Decentralized, consensual markets are among the greatest institutions ever
invented. It is time that we bring the benefits of these arrangements
to the inanimate world.
Hal
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