Computing as a Resource v1
23 Oct 2020I've always thought of computing as a resource, and with time, the significance of this resource keeps increasing. Although this isn't a novel thought, and has been widely discussed, I feel it doesn't get the attention it often deserves. To put things in perspective, even the most basic feature phone that can be purchased today has magnitudes more computing power than it took to put mankind on the moon. We take the power in our pockets for granted, usually unaware of the possibilities it holds for us. I use my smartphone to check my mail, browse social media, listen to some music, and perhaps play a few games. As a computer, it is completely wasted on me. As a computer, it is faster than my laptop, sips a third of it's power, and requires no active cooling. Don't forget, just 36 years ago, the first user friendly desktop Mac was launched, the Mac 128K. My smartphone is the utopic future the designers of the Mac 128K dreamt of.
My ability to utilise my smartphone is a function of my own illiteracy. If I had the knowledge and the skills to communicate with my smartphone, and impress upon it my demands, I would be far more empowered in the world we live in. A large majority of our digital interactions are directly controlled, or influenced by a powerful few. The devices and platforms we use are largely restricted, and don't allow us to take advantage of the latent power within. The Raspberry Pi is a very interesting device in the context of the current digital infrastructures. Designed as a portable and hackable computer, the creaters of the Raspberry Pi encourage users to explore the technology and use it as they desire. The ecosystem around the Raspberry Pi is designed to educate and empower it's users.
I have a Raspberry Pi along with a companion Astro Pi. The combination of these two devices gives users access to an array of sensors and computing power. I haven't had the chance to interact and play with my Pi, and so I decided to use to create something useful. A computer which would be functional, and work locally without depending on any external resources or libraries. The Astro Pi contains on it a temperature+humidity sensor, a joystick, and an LED array. I wrote some code (largely with the help of extensive tutorials) to display the temperature and humidity of my room on pushing the joystick.
It's a very a simple computer, using simple sensors, and openly available code. Yet using this device felt far more empowering than any computer I have used before. The fact that this computer provides me with local and relevant information, using hackable hardware and software is poignant. Grand words for a device that costs no more than $35. But it helped me visualise how computing has value, even in its simplest form. It's this highly contextual and local value which is of particular interest for me. For sure, computing to decode viruses, or train machine learning models is perhaps more relevant and important today.
But think of what happens when you scale up local computing and sensors. Imagine every household, and community creating their own digital networks which they define and control. What happens then? What if the smartphone in your pocket works with other smartphones in your neighbourhood to track data, and compute ideal solutions? This is just an initial exploration of the idea of local computing, and I intend to explore this in further detail.
Short video of the temperature sensor