The Mother of Invention
February 21, 2018 6:05 PM Subscribe
A new short story from Afrofuturist author Nnedi Okorafor: "The city of New Delta was big, but her neighborhood had always been “small” in many ways. One of those ways was how people stamped the scarlet badge of “home-wrecking lady” on women who had children with married men... Only her smart home spoke (and sometimes sang) to her."
Stacey Higginbotham, a journalist who focuses on "the internet of things," responds: "What we call a smart home today isn’t smart. It’s a cluster of gadgets that the user actively programs to respond to basic triggers. The dream smart home is closer to what Obi 3 offers in “Mother of Invention”—what Nest’s creator Tony Fadell called the “intuitive smart home,” one that anticipates the user’s needs and delivers unasked. But the story shows how such a dream can go well and how it could go horribly wrong."
The short story, and its response, are part of Slate's Future Tense series, which explores how emerging technologies will change the way we live. They're also partnered with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, "a space for productive collaboration between the humanities and the sciences, bring human narratives to scientific questions, and explore the full social implications of cutting-edge research."
Stacey Higginbotham, a journalist who focuses on "the internet of things," responds: "What we call a smart home today isn’t smart. It’s a cluster of gadgets that the user actively programs to respond to basic triggers. The dream smart home is closer to what Obi 3 offers in “Mother of Invention”—what Nest’s creator Tony Fadell called the “intuitive smart home,” one that anticipates the user’s needs and delivers unasked. But the story shows how such a dream can go well and how it could go horribly wrong."
The short story, and its response, are part of Slate's Future Tense series, which explores how emerging technologies will change the way we live. They're also partnered with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, "a space for productive collaboration between the humanities and the sciences, bring human narratives to scientific questions, and explore the full social implications of cutting-edge research."
Also, don't hesitate to read the attached discussion of smart home topics from Higgenbotham. There's some interesting points made in it.
posted by Samizdata at 11:04 PM on February 21, 2018
posted by Samizdata at 11:04 PM on February 21, 2018
Also, cheers for the pointer. I had seen Nnedi Okorafor's name show up as someone to follow on Twitter (I follow a LOT of authors) but had put off reading more as there are a lot of "authors" there and I don't have time to read EVERYTHING. Now I will make time for this.
posted by Samizdata at 2:09 AM on February 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 2:09 AM on February 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Love her stuff. I found the Akata books first, based on a random blurb calling them a "Nigerian Harry Potter", but then quickly read all of it I could find.
I love Octavia Butler, and the heritage of Binti in the Xenogenesis books makes for some nice compare-and-contrasts.
posted by bgribble at 6:27 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love Octavia Butler, and the heritage of Binti in the Xenogenesis books makes for some nice compare-and-contrasts.
posted by bgribble at 6:27 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was great (though for my personal happiness I would rather have cut the story off before we got to the last part)! Thanks for sharing it, as I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.
posted by librarylis at 4:13 PM on February 22, 2018
posted by librarylis at 4:13 PM on February 22, 2018
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i'm so pumped Marvel hired Nnedi Okorafor to write a a comic, as I found Binti, and Home to be beautiful works.
posted by Harpocrates at 7:19 PM on February 21, 2018 [1 favorite]