Living in a smart environment - implications for the coming ubiquitous information society

A good instrument for understanding the possible blessings and perils of new technology in general and ubiquitous computing in particular is the development and analysis of scenarios of the future. This paper presents some of the consequences implied by several such scenarios that have been developed in the interdisciplinary research project "living in a smart environment implications of ubiquitous computing ". To show how manifold and far-reaching such consequences might be, the paper emphasizes two particularly relevant implications. First, it discusses some of the deep economic paradigm shifts that could arise from a large-scale deployment of ubiquitous and pervasive computing technologies. Second, it investigates issues of social compatibility and dependability of future ubiquitous computing applications, considering both impending pitfalls and emerging opportunities.