Consumer tech leads to cyborgs

2016-08-08 2 min read

    The iPhone is the top selling consumer product of all time and a variety of podcasts and articles makes it seem that this is the peak of consumer technology and we’ll never see anything as popular. This is shortsighted. Every new technology achieved wider and wider adoption and eclipsed the previous generation - laptops eclipsed desktops and smartphones eclipsed laptops. One thing that’s clear is that each generation of tech gets closer and closer to us. Initially we were exposed to computers when we went into the office. Soon we started buying desktops for our homes. After that we decided we wanted laptops that we could carry around with us. Smartphones gave us the ability to carry computers around in our pockets with a full day’s worth of charge.

    Smartwatches aren’t very popular now but cellular connectivity may make them even more popular than smartphones. The interactions and designs will need to improve to handle the novel form factor but that itself is an opportunity to get closer to to the senses other than sight. Smartphones we carry but smartwatches we wear. Beyond smartwatches we may end up with technology that gets us closer and closer to becoming cyborgs. At this point we get very close to sci-fi territory with chips that are implanted under our skins or technology that can interface directly with our brains. At that point I can’t even imagine what sci-fi novels will be - everything will seem possible.