Episode 129: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: Smart Home Nightmares
The first fictional depiction of a smart home was in the 1922 Buster Keaton movie The Electric House
Ten years ago, Silicon Valley promised us smart houses that would light rooms as we walked into them, turn on the music, and do our shopping. And it never happened. We talk about how the smart home has its roots in Charlie Chaplin movies, sewing machines, and home economics classes. Guest Jacqui Cheng, former editor-in-chief of gadget guide Wirecutter, joins us to us to discuss the culture of smart home electronics.
Notes, citations & etc.
Jacqui Cheng, founder of the Wirecutter
Half of all homes were electrified in the U.S. by 1925
Alfred Chandler, Inventing the Electronic Century
The Electric House, starring Buster Keaton (1922)
Mr. Robot season 2 premiere
Modern Times, dir. Charlie Chaplin (1936)
Westinghouse All-Electric House
Ellen Swallow Richards, creator of Home Economics
“The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury
The Jetsons, created by Hanna-Barbera
The Secret History of Home Economics, which deals with Black women in home economics
The Stepford Wives, dir. Bryan Forbes (1975), based on the 1972 novel by Ira Levin
Demon Seed, dir. Donald Cammell (1977)
Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy (1976)
The best smart water-leak detector (Wirecutter)
Alexa as been eavesdropping on you the whole time (Washington Post)
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet (Technology Review)