Jason Cipriani at Wired reviewed Twine, the new product that allows home users to easily set up sensors. I’m intrigued and can think of ways I could use it myself, like sensing when the dryer stops since I’m too far away to hear the buzzer. Jason has some ideas as well that include tracking the patterns of his kids’ snacking.

The article did make me a bit thoughtful, however, about how we mediate our lives with technology. One of Jason’s ideas was to keep track of when his tomato plants needed water. Water sensors are nothing new and are often used to make sure we don’t over or under water our plants. But, plants need much more than water to grow and some of what they need is just attention and awareness. Are the leaves the right color? Is there any evidence of infestation? Are the blossoms falling off? Does the fruit show signs of blossom end rot? Certainly, these are all things that could be checked when you water but depending on how often you do that, you may miss the early signs of a problem that, left alone too long, could have dire consequences for your plant.

We cannot give up our own attention and awareness in favor of technology. There is a certain amount of intuition that goes into working with living things like plants that no amount of technology can replace.