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I think the advantage of "dumb" devices is that you can fully understand how they work, at least at a level of abstraction that covers all possible functionalit

I think the advantage of "dumb" devices is that you can fully understand how they work, at least at a level of abstraction that covers all possible functionality you care about. For smart devices, you can't fully understand how all of them work, so you have to trust that they understand correctly what you want them to do and are actually attempting to do it. Or if you can't trust it, you have to spend time and effort verifying it. And you also have to trust (or verify) that they're not doing stupid/malicious things like punching holes in your firewall or leaking your personal data. In short, you can simply use a dumb device, but you have to manage a smart device, and that requires much more mental bandwidth.

exodust 9y ago
That's a good point about using a device vs managing a device. We need more "dumb" devices that have optional layers of smart enhancements. Best of both worlds would be my preference for replacing things like a kitchen timer or light switch.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
This is definitely how I view the "dumb" vs "smart" automation. Complex things are hard to reason about, and as much as you might claim they "just work" that's only true until they suddenly don't, and then you can't fix them easily. Simple things are easy to reason about. They may not always work, but at least when they don't it should be pretty obvious why. I bring this up a lot in my "why the Linux Desktop sucks" rants, but it sadly applies to a whole lot of technology. So many complex systems introduced to solve non-problems or problems created by the complexity in the first place. It's enough that sometimes I want to just give up computing and live in a cave.