There Are No Smart Phones Or Dumb Phones

Nowadays, we hear a lot about smart phones, smart televisions, smart audio speakers, smart electricity meters, smart refrigerators, smart this, smart that.  You would think these technological wonders were self-created, self-aware, self-perpetuating, self-repairing.

There is no "smart" technology or "dumb" technology. These devices are the brainchildren of humans who have created and programmed them to do whatever it is they're supposed to do. A rotary dial phone, for example, can't take a picture or send and receive text messages or record videos. That doesn't make it dumb. It wasn't designed to do any of those things. Does that make Alexander Graham Bell a "dumb" inventor because he neglected to make his phone "smart"?

Instead of calling these devices "smart," they should be called "enhanced" or "augmented" technology.