The "Smart" Life - or -The Future Is Bleak

I happened to overhear a discussion on technology and the digital life.  The speakers were earnestly discussing the advances in "smart phones", "smart workout equipment", and "smart cars" that could drive themselves and avoid accidents.

Wouldn't it be great, they mused, if your "smart" devices could someday communicate your needs to each other, a technologically integrated approach to life.

Now that caught my fancy, because I did study SciFi and Science (an integrated approach to learning) in college and I began to think of the possibilities.  No more angst riding out the traffic jams on the Tappan Zee bridge:

Sit back, play Tetris and leave the driving to Google.

I already know the advantages to a smart elliptical:

I can set for Cardio, Fat Burn or Total Exhaustion.  And a smart fridge?  That provides useful information and tracks my food?

Cool.

But wait: what if my smart elliptical orders the smart phone to call the fridge and refuse access to dessert because I didn't burn enough calories?  Or what if the smart car refuses to start because walking is healthier?

And that fridge that suggests menus based on the contents?  I can just hear it's little robotic voice saying "your choices today are wilted lettuce salad with desiccated cucumber or Cap'n Crunch and spoiled milk."

Maybe I'm not quite ready for the technologically integrated life,  in fact, it sounds a little dystopian to me.