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Everyone remembers Schwarzenegger in Terminator — his role as a cyborg assassin fell nothing short of what we expected, giving us a glimpse of a world where the distinction between humans and machines is blurry.

Combining humans and machines has long been the realm of science fiction, but thanks to technology such as neuroscience, nanotechnology, machine learning, and 3D printing, it may soon be a reality. According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle from Emerging Technologies, human augmentation is one of the most transformational impactful trends for the future.

As long as there have been humans, there have been dreams of superhumans. Technological advancements such as bionics, brain-computer interfaces, and neurotechnology, as well as artificial intelligence, have made it possible for machines and humans to work alongside one another, meaning that technology could soon be making changes both inside and outside the body.

Gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR are currently at their early stages and bring with them a multitude of ethical considerations, but with the first human clinical trials beginning this year, they could soon become an option for treating medical conditions. Immunity to diseases? The end of disability? Impeccable memory? Enhanced vision? Superior physiological performance? These are only a few of the things that could happen thanks to biotechnology.

I for one am excited about what is to come and can only hope to be a witness to the realm of possibilities human augmentation will come with.

Sources:

https://www.verdict.co.uk/human-augmentation-gartner/

https://www.raconteur.net/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-human-augmentation/

https://medium.com/reflections-by-ngp/artificial-intelligence-human-augmentation-is-whats-here-and-now-c5286978ace0

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It is quite hard to imagine the world of Apple and it’s iconic iPhone and MacBook to turn the page and set sail in a new direction. Yet, with every public outing or announcement, they reinforce the shift towards their service offerings.

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Clearly, with each new generation of Apple’s hardware’ we have seen less dramatic changes and in turn shrunken product revenues. Starting already in 2019, at one of Apple events they showcased no tangible products but in turn debuted Apple TV+, the company’s long-awaited Netflix competitor; Apple News+, a digital newsstand subscription; Apple Arcade, a game subscription service for mobile games; and the Apple Card, which is something in between a credit card and a rewards card.

Apple would not be the first business to go into selling services as a way to counteract slow sales in the physical front. Let’s take Microsoft, for example. The reason Microsoft experienced a turn-around was the dramatic shift to the cloud which put the company back into the high-growth business and continue it’s journey safely into reaching the $1 trillion mark. Another benchmark example of the $1 Trillion clubs is Amazon, which after it’s debut as a book-seller ventured into AWS which now makes up for half of the companies revenues.

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However, as with everything, timing matters and many have doubts about the potential success of these new services as they don’t necessarily bring anything new to the table. Despite this, the company says it expects paid subscribers to surpass half a billion within 2020.

Apple will still continue to sell it’s almighty hardware nonetheless. Nonetheless, it’s time for them to reinvent themselves.

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/02/apple-is-moving-from-a-hardware-to-services-business–jay-srivatsa.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-23/apple-s-reinvention-as-a-services-company-starts-for-real-monday

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