When The Cookware Is Smarter Than The Cook

[Cooking Goddess]

...Sorry for the rant but the way we are slowly loosing any sense of privacy just irks me. Younger generations grow up not having the notion of keeping things private. Every move they make is online, how hard would it be to exploit that?

I love the internet but in terms of privacy I feel we are going downhill.

YES! (And, BTW, welcome to DC, Fine) The last thing I want in our house is a thermostat that senses when I'm home, when I leave, and what our preferred temperature setting are. I don't want a refrigerator that can automatically add an ingredient to my electronic shopping list so that it can be ready for me when I pick my grocery order up at the store. I don't want to be tracked! And why not? Well, it all goes back about half a century ago when I read a Ray Bradbury short story called "There Will Come Soft Rains" that scared the bejeebers out of me! Tempting as it is to get a thermostat I can control with my cellphone so I can turn the heat up before I get out of the warm bed in the winter, I'll dash* down the steps to bump the temperature up manually.

*Dash as quickly as my creaky joints and old bones will let me, that is.

 

[rodentraiser]

I think it depends on what you grew up with and got used to. The car I currently own is the first one I've ever had that has heated seats and I have yet to use them. I guess I'm just used to popping in the car on frosty mornings and I don't even notice how cold my fanny is.

People of my grandparents' era thought nothing of going out in the winter and harnessing a horse to a buggy if they had to go somewhere. It was the only personal transportation they knew.

For years I lived in a trailer and shut the heat off at night to save money. I got used to bundling in blankets and learned that you can keep warm with no heat even down to the single digits.

And Addie, you're doing better than me. I just got a Pay As You Go phone that all but walks, talks, sings, and dances. I only got it because A) it has triple minutes for life when I buy them and B) because all I paid was shipping. To do anything with it I need to have a Google account and I haven't made one yet on the phone because I find I don't need it. My phone rings, I answer, I hang it up when I'm done talking.

One of my friends tells me I could download apps for games to play waiting in doctors' offices and I told her, "I have books for that - and not Kindle ones, either."

I don't dislike technology. I love my computer and try to keep up on everything computer related, but I figure I don't have to have every new gadget out there.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Well, it all goes back about half a century ago when I read a Ray Bradbury short story called "There Will Come Soft Rains" that scared the bejeebers out of me!

I love that story!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

It was an interesting and attention-grabbing story, PF, but I still get the willies every time I think about it. I'm still in awe over the idea that what was science fiction years ago has now become science fact. Just so long as there isn't a TV in my house watching my every move, I'm cool with it.

I think it depends on what you grew up with and got used to...

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have my cellphone instead of that party line we had when I was a kid! However, I did like the anonymity it afforded when making prank calls. Hello? Is your refrigerator running? Then you'd better catch it!

I don't dislike technology. I love my computer and try to keep up on everything computer related, but I figure I don't have to have every new gadget out there.

Amen, sista', amen.

 

[Addie]

Remember the news story about the man that was able to download the image from a BabyWatch gadget and see everything the little girl was doing and even talk to her? Well, I just read a story whereby those that might want to do us harm, are able to do the same with those smart fridges. If you keep your grocery list on it and send it to your printer, the watcher knows when you are leaving your home to go shopping. Guess what comes next. When you return, your newest enemy has been to your home and helped himself to your valuables. Not only that they know when you are alone. Since the fridge knows what is in there, if you take out a dozen eggs, use only two before returning the carton, the intruder figures you are cooking for only one.

No thanks. My fridge does exactly what I want it to. It keeps my foods cold. Isn't that why it was invented in the first place?

 

[di reston]

My OH and I decided to retire to an area of Italy where the seasons are important, where the yearly cycle has its own rythm, and while time is very important, it takes its course. This is the yearly cycle all around us - it's one of Italy's great wine producing areas, and here you just can't be in too much of a hurry. Just down the road about 40 km away is Bra, the town where the Slow Food Movement came into being. While people really like their kitchen gadgets, they're by no means wedded to them although they like to get the latest of everything when the time comes to buy a replacement of the old. You kind of get used to this laid back attitude. We're probably more in favour of custom building an outdoor oven/spit big enough to roast a whole lamb and a whole suckling pig, but they also like their new gadgets. One big difference is that women are brought up to be superb cooks, with an inheritance of family recipes going back to heaven knows when and which they usually make by hand, all of them a family secret. Of course, in town, it's just the opposite! Everyone wants the latest, most sophisticated appliances, if they can fit them into their usually small kitchens. In the main cities in Italy, the sky's very often the limit and people get whatever they want. The world is a funny old place, isn't it!

I loved your debate, cheers to you all!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[GotGarlic]

Remember the news story about the man that was able to download the image from a BabyWatch gadget and see everything the little girl was doing and even talk to her? Well, I just read a story whereby those that might want to do us harm, are able to do the same with those smart fridges. If you keep your grocery list on it and send it to your printer, the watcher knows when you are leaving your home to go shopping. Guess what comes next. When you return, your newest enemy has been to your home and helped himself to your valuables. Not only that they know when you are alone. Since the fridge knows what is in there, if you take out a dozen eggs, use only two before returning the carton, the intruder figures you are cooking for only one.

No thanks. My fridge does exactly what I want it to. It keeps my foods cold. Isn't that why it was invented in the first place?

That only happens when people don't put a password on their wifi or it's easy to guess.

 

[Addie]

Lovely post di reston. Sounds like folks who followed their dream. Thank you for posting it.

 

[Fine]

Just cracks me up that a new member goes off on a rant as their introduction to a forum People generally get to know a new group of people first

) You're right, I got carried away

 

[Fine]

YES! (And, BTW, welcome to DC, Fine) The last thing I want in our house is a thermostat that senses when I'm home, when I leave, and what our preferred temperature setting are. I don't want a refrigerator that can automatically add an ingredient to my electronic shopping list so that it can be ready for me when I pick my grocery order up at the store. I don't want to be tracked! And why not? Well, it all goes back about half a century ago when I read a Ray Bradbury short story called "There Will Come Soft Rains" that scared the bejeebers out of me! Tempting as it is to get a thermostat I can control with my cellphone so I can turn the heat up before I get out of the warm bed in the winter, I'll dash* down the steps to bump the temperature up manually.

*Dash as quickly as my creaky joints and old bones will let me, that is.

Thanks for the welcome. Tech is cool and helpful but there is no protection for the average user that's what I don't like about it. And governments don't to anything about it because they would love to be "in bed" with you, knowing what you think and who you think with. O_O

And I'm off on the same rant ) Ok, enough tech for me on a food forum. At least until we see "smart" vegetables or whatever.

 

[jennyema]

What does a pan with a sensor have to do with privacy??

 

[rodentraiser]

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have my cellphone instead of that party line we had when I was a kid! However, I did like the anonymity it afforded when making prank calls. Hello? Is your refrigerator running? Then you'd better catch it!

My mom grew up with an outhouse and she doesn't miss it a bit. She and my dad used to go back and visit her folks and she said my dad used to pray for constipation.

 

[RPCookin]

What does a pan with a sensor have to do with privacy??

These days it can be hard to tell where that sensor is broadcasting its information.

 

[jennyema]

These days it can be hard to tell where that sensor is broadcasting its information.

BWAH!!

 

[Addie]

And Addie, you're doing better than me. I just got a Pay As You Go phone that all but walks, talks, sings, and dances. I only got it because A) it has triple minutes for life when I buy them and B) because all I paid was shipping. To do anything with it I need to have a Google account and I haven't made one yet on the phone because I find I don't need it. My phone rings, I answer, I hang it up when I'm done talking.

One of my friends tells me I could download apps for games to play waiting in doctors' offices and I told her, "I have books for that - and not Kindle ones, either."

I don't dislike technology. I love my computer and try to keep up on everything computer related, but I figure I don't have to have every new gadget out there.

I gave away my electric slicer, large bowl Robot Coupe processor, Food Saver, electric knife sharpener, and a few other electronic gadgets. Cooking for one, I no longer need them. Now I have so much more room in my kitchen.

I don't have to have the latest and greatest in electronics. I learned with a wooden spoon and a bowl. And if necessary, I can go back there.

 

[rodentraiser]

My friend Lisa gave me a blender (or is it a food processor?) last Christmas and I have yet to use it. Although strawberry smoothies are on the horizon.