INTERNET OF THINGS

Sandro Losapio
ARTEVELDE UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Ghent
Table of Contents
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................2
Why do we need IoT? .......................................................................................................................................2
What effect will the internet of things (IoT) have on our daily lives? ......................................3
As technology gets smarter, will our abilities to think, feel and act be affected?...............5
Will IoT applications enhance existing or emerging social disparities and divides? .........6
Will it impact sustainability? .........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................9
Reflection ....................................................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................ 10

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Internet Of Things
Introduction
What does the term “Internet of things” actually mean? You can actually compare it to humans using
social media, we (humans) would be the “things”, providing social media “internet” with our personal
data. All of our data is being used to create; personalised content, personalized advertisements,
recommendations and so on. (Ranger, 2020) The reason why I am comparing our social media use to
the internet of things, is because it actually boils down to exact the same principle.
(IoT = Internet of Things)
Let me clarify, thus we have “things” which are day to day objects, ranging from a fluffy teddy bear, to
a smart fridge or even a whole industrial machine. These objects are equipped with an RFID chips,
which radio Radio-frequency identification chips, that are connected to a database. These chips
extract, transmute and communicate valuable data to a particular database. The chips have became
so small, so cheap to purchase that they are being used in most of the things we use today.
We have been talking about the internet of things since 1998, the ambitions and ideas were already
existent, we simply did not have the technological advances as we do now. Now combine our
current technological advancements with 5G network, which is already working on some places, we
create a whole new revolution. Researchers call it our fourth technological revolution in history!
Where we will be able to achieve; machine learning, augmented reality, cyber physical systems and
the internet of things. (Ranger, 2020)

As you can imagine this raises a lot of

questions regarding; privacy issues,
application issues and the potential danger
behind all of this, thus in this document I
would like to clear a few things up and
hopefully answer some of the questions
you might have.

(RFID chip, n.d.)

Why do we need IoT?

Try to imagine that technology stopped evolving 20 years ago, where faxing is still used on a daily
bases and our smartphone together with our laptop would still be just merely a fictional thought.
Would things work more or less efficient? Right now you can order any product with the touch on
your mobile phone, you could even order a cab just by tapping on your screen, we are living in a
time where all of this is possible due to our technological advancements. To be able to actually do A,
you also need B, you cannot order a pizza online without internet, simple.
But how can we improve all of our previous creations? How do we make everything even more
efficient? This is where IoT comes in the conversation, as I have stated in the introduction that every
object, or every moving part in a machine is equipped with one of these chips, we can; gather data,
forecast malfunctions, etc…
The IoT is merely a system that connects all of the object, to then use that data. For example when a
manufacturer of machines produces its machines, but it notices through the data gathered by the
RFID chip that certain parts are overheating. They can adapt future productions, but also forecast
how many repairs will be needed, which parts will be needed to execute these repairs, etc

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Furthermore regarding businesses, when they gather so much data 24/7, it allows them to not only
sell physical products, but also data from certain topics of interest to other entities. When I want to
produce rubber sealings for an engine for example, I could ask the data from those specific engines,
to see exactly what material would be optimal and how frequently they have to be changed. Basically
we create a whole network, an automatic network to be precise where there is no more human
involvement in the process, where everything will happen automatically.
The constant increase of the population on planet earth, where more and more products will have to
be produced while the planet does not grow? Our resources do not change per-se? Thus the only
option where we can improve things is efficiency and effectiveness. IoT can also help the sustainability
of companies, while simultaneously reducing waste production. This is exactly why it is called the
fourth technological revolution, technology will gain more power, and will have a significant impact
on our life. (TIme, 2020)
Now, why would you need IoT? Everything you currently own, could become interconnected with
each other, making your life a whole lot more efficient. If your car could notify you before
malfunctioning meaning that we can already make an appointment with the dealership so that the
time without car would me minimized. But actually the take-away from this scenario is that your car
dealership would already know your car was bout to malfunction, and thus the part would have been
ordered before you even called in for an appointment, you see how benefiting this could be to all of
us? Furthermore, with the idea of self-driving cars in the future, we need everything to be
interconnected so that it is possible to eliminate car accidents or other unfortunate events, and this
is how 5G and IoT are going to go hand in hand, creating a safer space for all of us. (smart-cities,
2020)

What effect will the internet of things (IoT) have on our daily lives?
The story mentioned before is merely the start of it all. The options are endless once you think
about it. Everything could be turned into a smart object, your fridge, your thermostat, your locks,
and so on.

”IBM noted that in 2010, people in New York City waited a total of
22.5 years for elevators. As a result, Allied Market Research expects
the smart elevator market to nearly double from $12 billion in 2015
to $23 billion in 2020.” (Meola, 2020)
With this insider from IBM we clearly see that every inch so-to-speak of our daily life could, and will
be optimised.
This creates the following opportunity, elderly people will be able to live longer independently. With
everything being monitored closely, they are able to foresee, or prevent certain things to happen.
Lets imagine that all the steps on a staircase are equipped with an RFID chip connected to IoT, they
can analyse how fast that person walks up the stairs, and create a pattern this precise, to see how
long they will be able to walk up the stairs. (Ranger, 2020)
Even in children’s toys, they can identify how the child interacts with the toy, which part of the toy is
most likely to break and adapt production to prevent this from happening, even before the
complaints start coming in. You will not have to worry about keeping all your receipts for warranties
since everything will be filed in IoT to see what you bought, from which production it is, etc.
Even whole cities can be turned in to “smart cities” where smart cameras will reduce taxation for
drivers that show good behaviour, and increase the taxes for bad behaviour on the road. Analysing
the streets where we create a bottle-neck of traffic, or where things could be optimised is all part of

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IoT. You see how drastically our lives could change? How easy it would become to get a factual
insight? It will also create a lot of new jobs, or let us rephrase, transform jobs to new needs. Where
analysists will become more of an importance to understand all the date that is coming in.
I would also like to touch
the subject of personal
security, both regarding
physically and privacy wise.
There are hopes that the
profession of thieves might
become thing of the past.
With everything being
interconnected, from your
porch, all the way to the
backyard could be
equipped with sensors and
tracking systems. With the
connection to a local data
(Smart city, n.d.) base, the
police could be alerted even before the burglar enters your house. Furthermore with smart camera’s
on the streets, analysing and using the facial recognition abilities we might have, tracking down this
person should become easier than ever. There are many privacy concerns that arise when discussing
this topic, since everything will be monitored within your own house.
Recent studies have shown that we actually did not really account for this. With many reports of
Amazon’s Alexa or Google home being hacked, this raised the initial security question. Yes the risks
of IoT are serious, but so are the rewards. fortunately these problems can be resolved by a simple
update that encrypts a new security software, so do we really have to worry about that? (Ranger,
2020)
Not only objects and security will be improved, even healthcare and agriculture. This might sound
scary at first, but currently chips that can be implanted in human bodies are in development. Where
we could keep track of emotions, behavioural patterns which could lead to the prevention of
dangerous situations such as Covid-19 where you simply get a notification a virus has entered your
system. Here the options and opportunities are enormous, people with an chronical disease could be
monitored from a distance, where the weekly check-up is not necessary anymore, giving them more
freedom. The combination of medication being equipped with RFID chips together with your own
body could potentially create the real sci-fi scenarios we see on the television. (news, n.d.)
When using IoT for agriculture we are able to measure the humidity in the soil so that we can
drastically reduce our water use or pesticide use. We can clearly see what and where we need extra
water without wasting any. With the global warming and sustainability becoming more and more a
priority, it will be necessary for us that we do not waste anything or as little as possible. We are
going to be able to understand things even better and more detailed than we already do.
All of this made me wonder again about security. Data being sold out, governments potentially being
compromised by the click of a button. It is rather scary, something we definitely have to watch out
for, but how can we? It is not something physical, its not that we can grab that piece of date before it
flies op in the air flying towards our “enemy’s” data base. There are worries about when we enter
the 4th technological revolution, that we will also tap into a new warfare/hacker system. Where
someone from North Korea could spy on your house, lock your doors and turn op the thermostat
creating a rather uncomfortable experience. When this happens in one household you could ask
yourself “Ok but why would they?”, now imagine that scenario nationwide? Does that change your

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question? Where they overtake our self-driving cars, locking people in their houses and stealing our
crucial data and shutting down businesses? Unfortunately we are not able to foresee these events, so
we will just have to wait and see how things evolve.

(Connections image, n.d.)

As technology gets smarter, will our abilities to think, feel and act be
affected?
I would like to start off this topic with a personal opinion. When thinking about this logically, as
human beings we are situationally aware. This is due to our pre-historic animal instincts passed from
generation to generation. I strongly believe that once everything will be automized we will become
less situationally aware about general things such as our safety, the longevity of our products or even
traffic. When all of these things will be done for us so to say, do we eliminate or de-activate some
part of our brain? Research shows that it takes only 30 days to create/break a habit, where I believe
we compromise some of our instincts when we do not need to be so aware as we are now.
On the contrary, with all of this data, we are able to understand so much more as facts, but how
about emotions? When we let’s say are all implanted with chips that monitor our emotional state and
general well-being, would it not be normal that we listen, and obey the data given to us? What is that
is not what we want? Humans are very complicated, emotions even more, and we have not even
touched the topic of desires. Will we rebel against the facts to manipulate our data? This is all things
that worry me personally and I believe many others.
The documentary of Netflix called “The Social Dilemma” touches on this topic with regards to social
media, but this can help us on the topic of IoT as well. Data, advertisements and articles that you see
on your personal feed from social media, are there for a reason. They have created some sort of
profile from you personally, where they know there is a likelihood of you watching that post/video.
So let’s say for example you have looked online for a vacuum cleaner, later that day you open your
Facebook and low and behold, there is a special promotion for a vacuum cleaner. This is how they
try to manipulate your buying behaviour to actually buy that product. Even if you do not really want
it, chances are fairly large you might reconsider buying one since they have a special offer, which is a
“coincidence” that you were looking for that product earlier that day. (Netflix, 2020)
Now with even more data being gathered from you, from what you eat, to how much you turn on
the light in your living room, companies get the opportunity to completely take over your buying
habits by just creating more products, more personalised services and so on.
Technology changed already many aspects of our life; just think about our communication,
globalisation and owning a business. Beauty standards are changing and suicide rates are at an all time

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high. The effect is just so subtle, that we are just not aware of what is actually happening within our
own brain and body.
Back in the day -it is very noticeable when having a conversation with someone from the older
generation- they have so much information in their brain. I noticed this with the father of a friend of
mine, when we would ask him directions to a place he can tell you, even from a foreign country he
visited once on a holiday. How crazy is that? We simply do not need to know, we open our
smartphone, type in where we have to go and we actually simultaneously de-activate a certain part of
our brain that has to remember and orientate. Why should you, your phone knows the directions it
is easy right?

(Generations image, n.d.)

There is not one “superior” generation, we simply know different things, each more important to
our own generation. Which makes sense, why would you need to remember the road from the top
of your head when it is in your pocket? Generation on generation we gain, and we lose some aspects
of life that were important to us then at that time. It is all part of our evolution. (Rahhal, 2019)

Will IoT applications enhance existing or emerging social disparities and

divides?
As I have mentioned the documentary “The Social Dilemma” before, which is about our social media
behaviour, and the business model of these companies, I will refer to it again. What is happening right
now is rather frightening to say the least. Lets use American politics for example, when you only see
video’s or media that is directed at you, it actually is comparable to propaganda from WW2.
Social dilemmas or disparities will simply be harder an will become even harder to talk about because
we grow further and further apart from the actual truth. When this is combined with being flooded
by personalised media, our opinion and behaviour will change so drastically towards each other, that
we cannot have a human, political and factual discussion about certain topics.
Research has shown fake news or media, shares four times quicker then the actual truth. Where is
that going to bring us? The truth simply is not entertaining enough or immersive enough for the
companies to gain revenue from them.
On the net page I will showcase some graphs retrieved from “The social dilemma” On political
disparity.

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(Netflix, 2020)

(Netflix, 2020)

(Netflix, 2020)
-Retrieved from Netflix “The social dilemma”-

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With all of this negativity from the previous page, I do not wish to come across as a pessimist,
because I do believe we can fix all of this with adjustments in our system.
Let me clarify myself, when we see how information or even misinformation can divide us, we have o
see that there is also an optional flip side to all of this. In theory this could be used to bring us all
together, close together then ever before, we already have the pipelines for mass information there,
the priorities are just wrong in my opinion. The priority right now is money, everything boils down
to money essentially, and this could be switched for peace and harmony.
With the IoT gathering even more data, even more information about people and our way of living, I
strongly believe this can all be used for the greater good. That is the reason why I remain positive
when talking about this because in a certain way I believe we can actually eliminate false information
due to correct and factual gathered data by means of the IoT. Everything would be able to be fact
checked rather than emotional “facts”.

Will it impact sustainability?

Yes. The IoT has the potential to drastically change our sustainability as we know it today. As
mentioned many times before, almost every object we are able to touch, can be equipped with an
RFID chip, connected to the IoT. Meaning also trash cans, garbage disposals and even the garbage
itself. Meaning we are able to analyse more efficiently what is being thrown away, recycled or even
re-used. Giving us the correct data and measurements to decrease our waste, and potentially saving
the planet. (news, n.d.)
After doing some research on how they are produced (these chips themselves) they require little to
no minerals, although they do consume quite a lot of electricity to be produced. But since we are
working our way towards green energy more and more, the sacrifice of the positive effects it could
have on our society are just too great to abolish the idea of not equipping our daily objects with
these chips.
When equipping agriculture with these chips, we can measure the soil more accurate then we could
have ever imagined, giving us the chance to minimise the use of water and other resources to
develop our land.
As we know we currently are wasting so much food simply because that is how our economy works,
supply and demand go hand in hand, and to be able to drop the prices, we have to produce and sell
more to be able to cut our costs to make more profit. (Brand, consulted in 2020) Thus my personal
perfect scenario would be the following, due that we gather so much more date, where everything
could potentially be optimised to 100% let us imagine, that we are able to forecast what exactly will
go into waste. We theoretically would export our “waste” to developing countries, right? When we
already know that we create X products, and Y products will go to waste anyway, perhaps then we
are able to finally come together,
one world, where we are able to
take care of one another by
suppling them with our
overproduction.
We could create a beautiful
prosperous future with the
gathered data, from pollution to
waste, that we can optimise and
come together as one
nation. (Poverty, n.d.)

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Conclusion
As we see, the IoT can drastically change the way we live, talk, behave and consume in the future.
For the good, and for the bad. I genuinely believe that we will have to make one big mistake, or that
there will be one mistake where we squeeze society so hard to get more revenue, to later be able to
do, and apply it how we can help society to grow back together.
As we are slowly - but actually rather fast – coming into our 4th technological revolution, there will
be many obstacles, many risks and opportunities. How we handle it, could determine our prosperity
in the future, which I am really looking forward to.
Let us be honest, how amazing would it be that everything in our life would be automized and
optimized? Where you can analyse your real emotions on your computer for example once we
receive an implant? No more doubting about what we want or who we want to be, all unclear
aspects within our life right now, may it be the global warming, your cars engine or even the garbage
you threw away, could become clear to us. Creating certainty, facts and the solutions for them.
Fake news might and hopefully become a thing of the past, since the spread of misinformation could
potentially cause a new civil war. You might think this is crazy to say, but it is actually not that far
fetched seeing what is happening across the world right now.
I want to thank you for reading this paper, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Reflection
It is truly scary to me. All of this digitalisation has its perks, of-course I am fully aware of that. My
problem comes in when we still have such a massive imbalance of poverty and richness in this world,
that if we do not use IoT of AI with the correct purpose, it could divide us even more.
Currently we have so much and so well built technology, with the sole purpose of creating profit and
earning money. But where is this going to take us? It is all a well built construction, but it could easily
collapse when people start acting against the system. What if we use it for good purposes? How
much more millions do these big companies need? And for what? These are the questions I’m having,
considering the fact we have people living in tents on the streets, people walking 20km for a gallon of
water? It just seems inhumane to me personally.
Do not tell me that we cannot filter out misinformation and fake-news with our technology? It must
be possible, but this just collides with freedom of speech, freedom of life, this in combination with
social media is where I simply believe we cannot filter that out. Since mentioned in this research, we
all have our own sense of reality and truths, thus why would it be fake?
Is worrying me, although I hope and believe, that we will all see we have to fight more for humans
instead of capital that is not even helping the whole world, just people that have the facilities to profit
from their expansions.
This research made me realise many different things, but it also made me question a lot more.
Let us hope for all the best.

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