Fourth Industrial Revolution

Debate: Will brain-computer interfaces replace smartphones and other “mediating” devices?

by

The Fifth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion: where mind meets machine (The National):

The Fifth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion will make that con­nec­tion clos­er and seam­less, and will feel unmedi­at­ed. The smart device onto which we tap and into which we speak will dis­ap­pear. Brain-com­put­er inter­faces will replace them…Can we con­nect our brains – and our minds – to machines? The short answer is yes, and we have done so for some time. The longer answer is more com­pli­cat­ed, but more interesting.

[Read more…] about Debate: Will brain-com­put­er inter­faces replace smart­phones and oth­er “medi­at­ing” devices?

Fast Forward to 2040: How to prepare for the new era in brain enhancement that will change the way we think, work, and heal

by

Decades from now when our aug­ment­ed brains have enhanced our cog­ni­tive func­tion and trans­formed near­ly every aspect of our lives, many of us will look back and won­der why we didn’t do more to pre­pare for these inevitable changes. Gov­ern­ment lead­ers may grap­ple with the run­away effects of AI and brain enhance­ment on geopol­i­tics. Com­pa­nies that fail to incor­po­rate neu­rotech­nolo­gies and BCI into their oper­a­tional flow could lose sig­nif­i­cant mar­ket share and be forced to scram­ble in an attempt to regain a foothold in an indus­try they once dominated.

Work­ers who don’t heed the warn­ings to re-skill or upskill may find them­selves out of a job as entire indus­tries dis­ap­pear. Grad­u­at­ing col­lege stu­dents may dis­cov­er their field of study is no longer rel­e­vant in the busi­ness world, leav­ing them unpre­pared for the chang­ing job mar­ket. Tech inno­va­tors could be caught up in fierce com­pe­ti­tion to snap up employ­ees from a very lim­it­ed tal­ent pool, dri­ving up the cost of inno­va­tion and ham­per­ing its devel­op­ment. And every­day cit­i­zens may be wrestling with the unex­pect­ed con­se­quences of unin­ten­tion­al­ly giv­ing away the rights to their neur­al data.

Rest assured, it doesn’t have to be this way. [Read more…] about Fast For­ward to 2040: How to pre­pare for the new era in brain enhance­ment that will change the way we think, work, and heal

Survey of key scientific, technological and investment trends revolutionizing Brain Health in our Digital Age

by

—–

Last year I got very inter­est­ed in the func­tion­ing of the human brain and the sci­ence behind mind­ful­ness and learn­ing [1], so was quite excit­ed  to attend the Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit [2] in Decem­ber, indulging in the lat­est trends in applied neu­ro­science and dig­i­tal innovation.

The Sum­mit focused on the theme of rein­vent­ing brain health in the dig­i­tal age, and brought togeth­er lead­ing researchers, entre­pre­neurs, financiers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers pas­sion­ate with the mis­sion of mov­ing neu­ro­science and cog­ni­tive research from sci­ence labs towards appli­ca­tions in Health, Well­ness and Edu­ca­tion. Here’s a sum­ma­ry of the many things I dis­cov­ered. [Read more…] about Sur­vey of key sci­en­tif­ic, tech­no­log­i­cal and invest­ment trends rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing Brain Health in our Dig­i­tal Age

121 newly recognized Young Global Leaders train their brains (and others’) by solving important, meaningful and complex problems

by

YGLsMeet the Young, Tech-Savvy, Civic-Mind­ed Inno­va­tors Dri­ving The Fourth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion (World Eco­nom­ic Forum press release):

“The World Eco­nom­ic Forum announced today 121 sci­en­tists, gov­ern­ment lead­ers, future busi­ness lead­ers, social activists and artists, aged under 40, who are shak­ing up pol­i­cy, soci­ety and the world around them. [Read more…] about 121 new­ly rec­og­nized Young Glob­al Lead­ers train their brains (and oth­ers’) by solv­ing impor­tant, mean­ing­ful and com­plex problems