As with all choices selecting the right take away coffee has taken on a level of complexity that was thought impossible only a few years ago. And so as I start off on my regular walk around the local park I am almost always sidetracked by what I’m going to order from my local cafe.
Now to be fair to them they don’t yet seem to be in the same league as Starbucks but there is enough to give me pause for thought. And as usual this time I managed to choose the iced coffee and after walking round the corner into a rain shower I immediately wanted the hot cappuccino.
And obviously this got me thinking about Jeremy Vine the UK BBC Radio Presenter.
Or more specifically it got me thinking about an interview he did with a representative of the Met Office (the UK’s remarkably inaccurate weather forecasting service) and about the 4th industrial Revolution. Which involves the coming together of a number of different ideas that are integrating data, robotics, technology, Biology, Genetics.
The interview centered on the Met Office plans to use new 5G networks (needed to run the Internet of Things and currently being developed and soon to be tested in Asia) to produce weather forecasts on a street or postcode level. Soon enough you’ll know the weather in your street by checking your phone rather than perhaps the more obvious approach of looking out of the window.
On first glance this seems like a complete waste of time and effort,
I beg to disagree here. I can see a role for a weather tracking service that can let you know which is the best way to get to work avoiding those pesky rain showers. Making it possible to have the right choice of jacket at all times. And once we know the weather and are setting off wouldn’t it be great if the cafe got advanced warning and made you a coffee before you got there; and a coffee that suits the weather you’re going to find on your way to the station? And perhaps if the cafe had a fully robotic coffee maker the staff could simply concentrate on making your day just a little bit better by engaging you in a conversation.
Or possibly by offering you an umbrella for the day.
Technology is being seen by some as a way of replacing humans. If we get it right it can perhaps make us human again. Now there’s a novel idea.
The Burble 