1) What is plausible and what is implausible about the future that Jesse Schell describes and, most importantly, make a clear case for why?

The scary part is… that its all very Plausible. Extremely so. We DO have sensors for almost everything right now. Wireless sensors, movement, brain activity, sound, color, even bending. Its plausible in the sense that it CAN be done. We can be monitored all the time and data gathered all the time by tiny implants in our bodies, devices we use, and environment. Taking a look at simple sensors and how cheap they are to purchase online, just imagine, this is the cost for someone buying it from a distributor, the cost is even lower for them; moreover, the cost per unit for the manufacturer is even lower! Its amazing how cheap technology is getting. I recall when Solid State Drives first came out at an affordable price for the public. It was about a little over a $1 per Gig of SSD (at 3Gb/s data transfer rate), its been about 2 years, and the price for a 6Gb/s SSD is just a bit under $1/Gig of data storage. Thats amazing.

We have proven that we can also build on top of the infrastructure that has already been laid upon. When the internet first became public, it was on dial up. Dial up  used the same phone lines that had already been laid down by the generations before us. All of the sudden, the telephone infrastructure was being used in a completely different way. Just imagine, our cities have wifi readily available by the infrastructure laid out by our current generation. Imagine how we will be able to build upon that in the future. Again, making Schell’s vision/prediction, completely plausible.

One last thing you could look at is Facebook or social media, most people are already on it, even animals, plants, and unborn babies! People are constantly playing social games, liking things, recommending pages/business and people do it willingly. Games like, flappy bird go viral and people need to outdo each other in simple games (I know I did). Applying this concept to commercialism with products or even insurance companies is completely plausible and even happening today. At my current job, our health care plan gives you incentives or “points” for not smoking, attending lunch and learn sessions, and even for carrying a pedometer so that they can give you a lower rate. Yep, its already happening. So its completely plausible.

The only thing stopping it, will be the people that prize their privacy, nonconformists, and those that are awake enough to see what is going on.

2) How do you think current city screens (such as animated billboards) and future ones (as described in Living Skins) will factor into a future where we continue to be constant contributors of data (of both personal and impersonal nature). For example, how might this bring communities closer, educate us, empower us, alienate us, and/ or commodify us or de-commodify us? Provide at least two examples of where this is happening already. Use the links to the left.

I think using “living skins”, just like any new tool developed by man, can either have a positive effect or a negative one. Living skins may be able to give us positive reinforcement by reminding us that life is good and people are being saved. For example, what if instead of McDonalds telling us over X-Billion people served, we could see a hospital telling us “Over X-Trillion people saved, shove it up  your face McDonalds!”? Well, maybe not so hostile, but you get the idea.

It would be nice if a restaurant sensed you passed by, and found on its database that you proposed to your now wife there 3 years ago, and it sent a signal to your optical implant to send you a request to play that video of that moment for  you. Woah, cool? Creepy? If youre still in love, great! but what if that ‘woman’ cheated on you with your best friend, took the kids, left you with no house, killed the dog, and youre paying for her handbag addiction (because the govt doesnt care what she uses the money on, but will throw you in jail if you miss a payment), … what then?

I guess Im a bit of a pessimist. It seems however there is hope. For example in the Kunsthaus with the BIX installation in Europe, people complained when it was rented for commercial use, and it has never been used again. AWESOME. Im a big believer in keeping corporations out of my life and out of polluting my environment.

One example is here in Chicago, the Sears Tower and other buildings “go pink” for breast cancer awareness month. Some buildings turn on their lights at night in order to make a “pink ribbon” pattern. This is great because breast cancer is a real issue that needs support, who doesnt want to save the boobies? I know we all do. However, “going pink” is directly tied for a “not-for-profit” organization, and do we all know exactly how much of the money we donate actually goes into research vs how much it goes to merchandizing, marketing, and paying do-nothing jobs?

Another example would be Times Square, what a giant waste of space. Times Square was by far my least liked amount of time spent in NY, I regret missing out of Central Park for that pile of trash. Advertisements I can see in my own little suburb town but made annoyingly large and compacted in one little location. Every building tells us whats going on around it, what specials are going on, and that their brand is amazing. Just wait until they can sense Im there and remind me that Im low on my cereal or I havent bought a Coke in 2 weeks, or that because I took my sister to go see the new Disney movie, I should buy the DVD when it comes out.

3) How might gaming factor into this (or not)?

Gaming factors into everything, EVERYTHING. We could get points for sharing a picture on our fb about a “living skin” we saw on our commute. Playing Tetris/Pong on a living screen? Points. Buying a pink ribbon within 24hrs of sharing the living skin design on twitter? Points. Big points if you bought it within the hour of sharing that picture. Oh look, Jimmy got +20 points because he rented a book that was recommended outside of the library? I just rented 2 books, read both entirely on my kindle, and posted reviews on amazon. Match, me. I win, I think?