ConfPad

The current hype around wearables, mixed reality, AR/VR and biohacking is a telltale sign of what's to come. The relationships with our tools have defined human progress in the industrial times and have taken industrial production and human productivity into an exponential trajectory. In the process, we have doubled lifespan and moved human jobs to machines. This progress will only accelerate with technological paradigm shifts set forward by artificial intelligence, robotics, synthetic biology and advancements in human-computer interfaces. As humans we are already intricate machines — Constantly updating biological computers adapting to the environment through epigenetic change dictated by signals transmitted through our neural connections, metabolic pathways and gene transcription. In the 5th industrial revolution, biological intelligence will merge with technological intelligence, forming a new entity that is no longer a human nor a machine. In other words, the very tools we have created will help us recreate ourselves as a species. Direct technological augmentation of human capabilities will be the largest shift since the industrial revolution.