[Music] [Applause] let's talk about alex he's in his 50s and generally fit and healthy it's an ordinary day and he's at work he feels a bit off but ignores the symptoms assuming it's because he's getting older and didn't sleep well the previous night but alex's smart watch which keeps track of his heart rate temperature oxygen saturation and other vital signs has sensed that his heart rhythms are out of whack it turns out that his body is starting to exhibit the symptoms of cardiac arrest before things get worse alex's watch automatically contacts the paramedics and he's
rushed to the emergency room where the doctors are able to stabilize his condition he's outfitted with an implanted defibrillator to keep his heart healthy this defibrillator is connected to the internet so he can monitor his heart rhythms real time and his doctor can also see them in real time remotely at her medical office these are examples of the internet of bodies an ecosystem of internet connected devices that can alter the capabilities of our bodies or collect personal intimate data about us so we can learn more about and improve ourselves we're currently living in an era
that's defined by what people are calling the internet of things this is the network of everything that's connected to the internet like your car or light bulbs think of the internet of bodies as a subset of and a progression of the internet of things many devices are moving onto and into our bodies there's a small but growing movement of people who are early adopters of radical technologies like self-implanted devices these early adopters are giving themselves new capabilities and the internet of bodies is a part of that in a lot of ways these folks are setting
trends in how we connect to technology during my research on the internet of bodies as a researcher for the rand corporation i met a man named aaron who had about seven microchips implanted in various parts of his hands these chips are about the size of a grain of rice and are implanted just under the surface of the skin with an enormous syringe aaron was able to unlock his smart front door with one microchip and scan another chip with his phone and pull up his personal website i asked him why he chose to implant these chips
inside himself he answered because i can now i know some of you might start googling where you can get your microchip implanted but others of you are probably a bit more cautious about the idea even though it's a proven safe technology it's basically the same technology we use to chip our dogs and cats it's probably not likely that getting so many microchip implants becomes mainstream but my encounter with aaron made me realize that the popularity of the internet of bodies is growing because in addition to improving our health these technologies can make us more capable
more efficient more productive and make our lives more convenient i mentioned that we're living in the age of the internet of things in many ways we've been merging into the age of the internet of bodies for quite a while all such devices pose privacy security and other concerns but the internet of bodies holds a lot of promise the story about alex and his smart watch is fictional but not at all far fetched wi-fi connected defibrillators have been around for years and though there are still some interoperability and sensitivity issues to work out with smart watches
they're becoming better and better at tracking our health to the same level as medical devices other medical devices like prosthetic limbs hospital beds and sleep apnea machines are all being connected to the internet when we combine all of this with the health apps on our phones and smart watches and other devices that are gathering health and wellness information about us the internet of bodies is going to revolutionize medical care there are also consumer devices you can buy off the shelf there are even devices for babies like smart diapers and smart pacifiers my good friend recently
gave birth and she was singing the praises of a smart bassinet that automatically responds to her baby when he's fussing and gives her a record of his sleep patterns and there are devices that can be used during pregnancy to monitor contractions so the internet of bodies might be a part of people's lives starting from before they're even born what makes all this possible these technologies weren't developed in a vacuum they depend on scientific advancements that enable these gadgets to be small enough and comfortable enough for us to use easily and that make the sensors accurate
enough to correctly measure and record our information what we're seeing is the perfect storm of scientific advancements that has set the internet of bodies in motion advancements in communications technology data processing electronics nanotechnology and material science a critical component to the internet of bodies is the enabling infrastructure of internet and communications technology which are becoming more and more advanced new wi-fi standards are being developed that will mean we can connect many more devices than ever before with little concerns for lag or overloading or slowing the number of wi-fi connected devices in the average american home
is going to increase fivefold from around 10 to around 50. satellite internet is going to bring the internet to remote or rural areas by putting thousands of satellites into low earth orbit and 5g and other advances in cellular communication are going to enable more and more devices to connect the current 4g network can support around 60 000 devices in a square kilometer in contrast 5g by some estimates is going to be able to support around 1 million devices in the same area on top of that advancements in data processing and computing are going to make
the internet of bodies easier to integrate in our lives massive amounts of computing power in combination with machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms are going to allow us to personalize solutions that support how we live work and play revolutions like precision medicine will be possible so that medical treatments and therapeutics will be designed specifically for our individual bodies so given all that infrastructure let's ask ourselves what the future might look like just a few years from now well think about yourself think about the clothes you're wearing right now electronics are getting smaller and can be
integrated onto wearable stickers and into fabrics so imagine that your clothes were covered with micro sensors that measure your heart rate and body temperature and they sensed that you were feeling overly stressed so they emitted gentle vibrations around your tents shoulders to help you relieve stress and you took a second to breathe the internet of bodies will be able to automatically interact with your smart home and other internet of things devices so your smart underwear could automatically connect to your smart thermostat and you wouldn't even need to think about adjusting the temperature in your house
electronics are so advanced that in some cases we can safely ingest them and they can measure what's going on inside our bodies in the near future imagine that you pop an electronic pill that measures the nutrients and bacteria in your gut and you're informed that you're low on vitamin d so you go and sit outside in the sun and while these are examples of devices at the individual level we can also think about how they'll impact us at the community level maybe the internet of bodies can help us stop the next pandemic in addition to
the contact tracing apps on our phones one day we could have sensors on our masks or on public toilets doorknobs and elevator buttons and we might know exactly where a disease has spread and if you can take one more technological leap with me i'd like to take you even farther into the future it's going to be even more radical here are three areas that researchers are working on one you might start wearing contact lenses even if you don't need your vision corrected because your smart contact lenses will be able to tell you the weather forecast
or the name and title of the new person you're about to run into two you'll be able to control your smartphone from your eyes and videos will be beamed directly into your contact lenses and three a built-in personal assistant could be implanted right into your brain instead of typing up your shopping lists or social media posts on a keyboard you could have a brain computer interface that automatically types your words when you simply think about them the new frontier of the internet of bodies can help us understand and optimize ourselves to our fullest potential there
are still open questions about how we should handle the security privacy ethical and other concerns associated with these devices and because i can might not be enough reason for some of us to adopt the more extreme technologies but the devices that improve our health that make us more efficient and more productive are already becoming mainstream and have started to become ordinary parts of our lives and as that continues to happen we'll be able to connect to and become a part of the internet as we never have before thank you [Applause]
