Do Things 'talk'?

Do Things 'talk'?

To answer this question, let us understand the definition of Things and Talk. According to a popular dictionary, Thing is defined as an inanimate material object as distinct from a living sentient being and Talk is defined as speak in order to give information or express ideas or feelings. We need to see this in the context of 'Us' being humans and having life. 

Now that we have a few definitions and a background, let us examine some of the common experiences we come across in our everyday life to answer the question.

Are Things 'talking' to Us?

One of the basic examples of a non-living thing talking to us and giving us information is a clock telling us the time. This is an example of a mechanical device. As we keep looking for things talking to us, we will find more mechanical devices, analog devices, digital devices, digital platforms, applications etc. all talking to us through one medium or the other. As we delve more into this space, we realize that most modern / current non-living things talk to us using internet as the medium. An example of one of the most advanced non-living things talking to us would be a satellite floating in the outer space thousands of miles from us.

Are We 'talking' to each other through Things?

Earliest non-living thing that human beings used to talk to each other was making sounds on different things that had a high resonance like drums and other percussion instruments which evolved into devices that could record humans talking and play it back like gramophone record which was an analog storage medium. This further evolved into LP, cassettes and then into digital medium like CD, DVD etc. The medium also evolved from a physical medium, to radio waves to many different technologies. Most of the current day communication between humans is instantaneous and, on the internet, helping us to talk to each other through non-living things living thousands of miles apart.

Are We 'talking' to Things?

Humans have been talking to things for a long time. Taking the first example of a basic clock, we were able to communicate with a clock that a day is 24 hours by simply configuring a coil spring to help us measure time and keep intervals. From an analog device like a clock using springs, oscillators etc. we have evolved into talking to digital machines by different kinds of input devices like punch cards, tapes, circuit boards, keypads, touch pads etc. Again, today most of the input devices help humans talk to non-living things through the internet medium making this communication instantaneous immaterial of the distances.

Are Things 'talking' to Things?

A simple example of things talking to things is that of a water level indicator in a water storage unit. A non-living thing like a float valve opens and shuts a non-living thing like a tap communicating the level of water in the water storage unit. This again is an example of a mechanical communication which evolved into digital communication through sensors communicating via multiple mediums. Most modern and current sensors or devices communicate digitally with other devices via the internet. 

The above examples establish the fact that "Things talk to us", "We talk to each other through things", "We talk to things" and "Things talk to each other". Thus, we can safely say, Yes! Things Talk!!!

This communication and extension of internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects is called Internet of things (IoT).

Internet of things or popularly known as IoT has revolutionized every industry and domain and has helped achieve digital transformation through time, resource and cost optimization. IoT devices have now become a norm in most areas and the next level of transformation lies in making use of the many data points that these devices are capturing or communicating. This data is the new digital asset and a connected data manipulation platform should be the next generation strategy.