We Are All Applications
What is a database but a resting place, however temporary, for bytes
(being an arbitrary unit of measure) of data waiting to be consumed by
some application. It is useless otherwise. But in essence, isn’t the
real world just a database? Everywhere is information waiting for
consumption. Our senses are applications that consume data. Our
bodies themselves consume data (all living things do). Evolution
itself could be seen as versions of applications responding to changes
in the Earth’s database. What I’m trying to say is, there must be some
interesting way to make use of this fact.
There is data everywhere. We
are all applications. Why don’t we build better bridges between
ourselves so that we can better share our data? Right now, as I sit
here, the application known as Peter is consuming data. Is this info of
interest to anybody else? Depending on one’s knowledge, care and/or
use for me personally you could probably draw concentric rings
eminating from me that demonstrate levels of interest. But that
interest quickly tails off. My data becomes interesting only insofar
as it describes environmental or other sensory inputs (this may not be
strictly true – my editorial input may have value – e.g. The temp is 70
but that’s unusual for this time of year). What’s the barometric
pressure at my lat/lon, etc. Do I see the Golden Gate bridge from
where I stand? Is there a line at the Starbucks where I am sitting? If
I go out of my way to post this data, would someone be interested in it
(Flickr is a great data point)? If everyone posted random bits of data
what would that truly provide? Useful information or meaningless
noise?
Perhaps the Long Tail concept applies. It rapidly becomes a
problem of search and categorization to make sense of it all, but maybe
Google could help. Maybe it’s self organizing. People are drawn to the
info they’re interested in and post the same. Who would take the time
to make inputs? It’s a social networking question but my bet is there
could be a healthy quid pro quo. At least from a core initial group.
There are probably good existing analogs. Spies, for instance, make it
their job to constantly input data. The unbelievably prescient book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson imagined individuals called Gargoyles whose business it was to ceasely collect any/all information in their immediate vicinity. The latest incarnation is justin.tv. If the value to the greater good
could be easily demonstrated, who knows? There may even be an economic
model that could support it. I become a data source, a streamer, that
people can rely on, subscribe to (RSS). I could be a specialist on
parking spots at 76 and Amsterdam.
Perhaps even more interesting is what if I have hyper sensory inputs
from other devices that I can assimilate into the Peter app? For
example, maybe I have a geiger counter with me that I can use to stream
radioactive data.
In this model, every person becomes a node in a
vast, distributed application running off the database known as real
life. And like other distributed apps, all nodes become more powerful
and resilient as their connectivity increases. Through sharing, the
community grows, its resources increase, its efficiency improves.
Pretty cool.
