0. What will be
This is the first in a series of experimental posts that aim to define what building an open, extensible, and private network infrastructure capable of supporting future technologies looks like. This will be a long rant with huge assumptions, personal biases, a sprinkle of science fiction, and lots of discussions around decentralisation, privacy, trust, software development, ethics, and various other problems in need of solutions.
Before we start designing our infrastructure, it would be nice to have a common ground; A baseline of what the future we are building for looks like, and I can't think of a better way than storytelling. Science fiction has long now been our window in what could and will happen in the near and far future. From post-scarcity utopias and cautionary tales, to outright extinction event narratives, science fiction authors have given us front row seats to the lives of their protagonists and inspired us to help guide our present towards, or away from each of their carefully constructed futures. We'll stick to the same guiding principles to try and imagine how some everyday situations could play out in three future scenarios.
While slumped on your couch, aimlessly watching a random cooking show that you "honestly just happened to stumble upon" the wannabe chefs are making some fancy Mexican recipe that probably smells amazing, and as you begin salivating you remember that you haven't had dinner. The programme's overlay tells you that the recipe is available for 99 pence and comes with step by step instructions; you grunt, lightly curse, and politely ask your TV (Actually Smart TV by LG, RRP 1.999) to get you the recipe. Your cooking app (Personal Chef by The Food Company, RRP 49.99) buzzes on your phone as it receives the recipe. After some delicate negotiations about your dietary needs with your health app (Health by Apple, RRP 9.99 a month) they decide to change the cheese to a fat-free alternative, as your virtual doctor has requested you cut down on fats. And let's face it, you all know you haven't been to the gym since February. It has also already checked what's in your fridge (Cool and smart by LG, RRP 1.299) and since it is completely empty, gives you the option to either order the missing ingredients or bite the bullet and order it from one of the cook-your-own-food delivery services in your area. Either option will result in further exchanges between various delivery services and applications that fit your requirements, previous orders, preferences, cost restrictions, all nicely condensed into an ETA for the order. It sounds like a really complicated process and it probably is, but you don't have to know or care too much about it. The various services and applications will have their little huddles, exchange the minimum amount of data they can in order to preserve your privacy, find ways of negotiating the best price and quality according to a whole network of relationships, trust, probabilities and other black and arcane magic and get the job done in a matter of seconds. Your dinner will be served in approximately 30 minutes.
