There are varying levels of cynicism with which to view the smart home stuff. On the plus side, smart home automation is great for those with mobility issues o

There are varying levels of cynicism with which to view the smart home stuff. On the plus side, smart home automation is great for those with mobility issues or disabilities, the elderly. It also could save a lot of energy globally. On the other hand, a lot of things just don't need to be smart, and making them smart often means that they are not directly servicable by owners. When something breaks, you need a whole stack of knowledge about software to figure out where it went wrong. A lot of us here might have that knowledge, but even then it's a giant hassle. It seems insane that in the future it might require arcane knowledge of Python, bash, and Linux to get your lights on. That's some kind of fail. The most cynical view, which I sometimes dare myself to consider, is that all of this smart home/internet of things is just another bubble where hardware manufacturers are pushing their chips into literally everything because they have to keep making more money...somehow. In the latter case, well. Civilization doesn't need more hucksters, even if they are selling little black squares of silicon this time around.