Locative Media & The City

The other day in Trebor's Sociable Web Media class (I recommend it) the notion of "calm" technology came into play. Theres something that I really like about the name in itself. Upon further evaluation, there also seems to be something pretty scary about the whole thing.

Ubiquitous computing or ubicomp sounds very promising. Perhaps pervasive gamers wont have their faces sucked in by the GPS or Palm Devices if this idea is ever realized. Maybe my milk can be delivered to my house when the refrigerator tells Wegmans that I'm low. Calm technology attempts to put everyday devices into the peripheral of our vision. What happens when they recede too far? In class we discussed how its possible to get reliant on these devices, but what happens when they begin to function without us even knowing it. Surveillance cameras are one thing, but hidden voyeur cams are another. They are out of our sight and out of the mind. They operate in a different sense. With the panopticon, you can always see the main observatory. Calm technology promises to operate without us even knowing or possibly seeing.

Can ubicomp recede so far back that we wouldn't even miss it if it were gone? Or is it possible for these devices and services to make themselves so dependable that we couldn't function without them. Electricity is probably the closest thing to something that is ubiquitous and seemingly necessary to existence. The electric grid spans almost the entire globe. A few years back the power went out on the east coast. Life basically stopped for everyone that didn't have power. I remember that many shops could not operate or take credit card orders. When the storm hit buffalo, I couldnt shop anywhere for the same reason. I am very hopeful for the conveniences that calm technology might offer, but I will also keep a close eye on how far back it recedes and how reliant I become on it.