This year IBM presents The 5 in 5 in five sensory categories, that includes 5 scientists, 5 stories, and 5 predictions about the world in 5 years and how technology will impact it. According to IBM, "in the era of cognitive computing, systems learn instead of passively rely on programming. As a result, emerging technologies will continue to push the boundaries of human limitations to enhance and augment our senses with machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced speech recognition and more. No need to call for Superman when we have real super senses at hand." (source) CTO Telecom Research Paul Bloom, IBM Fellow and VP of Innovation Dr. Bernie Meyerson, and VP Industries Research Dr. Katharine Frase, think that "Our computers today are just large calculators. They calculate very fast and they calculate lots and lots of data, but they really don't think. If a cognitive computer can experience it's environment by definition it can act upon it to improve it and that's a unique capability compared to what we have today. How do we get computers to behave and think and interact the way humans do?" To do this, IBM predicts that our hardware will eventually share your senses.
One of the big opportunities here is to extend this type of computing experience from the limitations of laptops and even mobile phones by integrating them into smaller, smarter and more ubiquitous devices that can be easier integrated into our environments. These devices can leverage the processing power of laptops and mobile phones while providing the ability to collect body metrics, environmental data and understand our context (where we're at) in a natural and non-abstrusive way.
What better way to do this than with wearable technology?
Source and images via IBM