Paul Saffo, director of the high-tech think tank Institute for the Future, urged the audience to look beyond the Internet and lasers, to upcoming sensor technology that will give silicon the ability to gauge the analog world and modify it accordingly. A simple example: sensors in a car seat will judge the weight and position of a rider and instruct the air bag how quickly and at which angle to deploy at the moment of impact. Saffo also cited some chilling examples of mini-sensors being tested in military and social control situations that don't bode well for the future of individual privacy and human autonomy.

"The moment we ask them to monitor our analog world, we'll ask them to modify and manipulate it," Saffo said.

Common devices with built-in sensors will always be on, perhaps even with built-in cameras which Saffo predicted will become cheap to the point of disposability. "It is the end of inert matter," he said. "They will always be watching."


Alex Lash, news.com, March 5, 1997, 6:15 a.m. PT