Why Can't My Luggage Handle Itself??

Middleware is about automating things. Have we automated everything we can? I watched the ground crew unload the luggage from the plane, and wondered why the luggage did not unload itself. Why does my luggage not have RFID tags, GPS, actuators, and wheels? Why do I have to carry it to the hotel? Can't it get there by itself?

I then started thinking that I was smokingdope. There is no way we are going to have autonomous luggage. I entered the restroom and, funny enough, the toilet flushes itself and the sink turns itself on and off. They have IR sensors, embedded processors, actuators, etc. Auomating toilets would not have been my first choice.

- IBM Developerworks Blog Sept 30 2004, Don Ferguson, IBM Fellow