The Future of the Internet of Things Is Amazing, If We Don't Muck It Up

As I write this, about 3.2 billion humans are connected to the Internet, communicating with each other and sharing information. But, we're hardly alone in cyberspace. Machines are also doing the same, communicating and sharing information with each other and with us, over essentially the same complex and connected global mesh. And, they already outnumber us.
An estimated 4.9 billion sensors are connected to the Internet as of this writing, and that number is estimated reach 38 to 50 billion in just five short years. This is what's broadly powering the Internet of Things (IoT). Connected cars, connected logistics, connected clothing...connected everything.
The backbone of the Internet of things are sensors embedded everywhere gathering every single moment's worth of data, relentlessly indexing the world around us, and sending that information up to cloud servers to power applications and analysis.