In Praise of a Dumb House

Tech has been encroaching on the family domicile for years--but actor, writer, and satirist Jill Kargman is all in on analog. My husband Harry works in tech, and every January he makes his yearly pilgrimage to Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where some 4,100 exhibitors are spread across 2.6 million square feet. The dominant concept at this year's edition was that, very soon, anything you put in your house will be compatible with voice-activated AI services like Siri, Alexa, or HomePod. Your newest home automation systems will come equipped with sensors and jazzy master controls on an iPad. The problem for me is that a tiny photoelectric cell you frantically wave to--rather than a switch to flick or press--rarely acknowledges me, because somehow I'm not human temperature.