Future Sensors Will Create The Matrix

The Matrix trilogy was one long paean to data visualization. As we all know, it began with the premise that life was a sophisticated simulation, virtual reality taken to the civilizational level. Except for a few Matrix die-hards that I'm sure exist, people don't actually believe this is what the physical/geographical world actually is. But with new sensor technology, we could create the datasets that the movies hinted lay inside the world. Current efforts at revisualizing the world through specific environmental data collection -- traffic flowmaps, real-time temperature maps -- will expand into a much wider variety of fields over the next few years. The energy industry is driving much of the sensor innovation because they'd like to make their grid more efficient. The suite of technologies necessary to do this are collectively known as the "smart grid." When they are in place, companies will be able to see energy moving across (at least) the US, flowing out of plants and into homes. The technologies to enable this real-time transformation of the world into data are nearly at hand. Last week, I spoke with Drew Clark, co-founder and director of strategy for the IBM Venture Capital Group. He returned time and again to the concept of wireless sensors. IBM sells the backend software to manage all the data the sensors are collecting.