Well, of course adopting any piece of technology is going to change human behavior. The question this study ostensibly posits is whether it’s for the worse in t

Well, of course adopting any piece of technology is going to change human behavior. The question this study ostensibly posits is whether it’s for the worse in the case of smart homes. And although they seem to have worked hard to answer in the affirmative, the conclusions reported by the article are suspect. First, if a smart thermostat takes more time to calibrate than a dumb one, then surely it won’t be widely adopted. The question, then, is how accurate the researchers’ model is compared to available technology. And the conclusion that humans would “change the order of their tasks to minimize their time spent changing temperature” is as baffling as it is amusing.