The Connected Body: How Data Enables and Empowers a Person

By 2015 there will me more than 50 billion connected devices. Many of them will be sensors producing data that can be used to make decisions, but these decisions won’t be limited just to humans. In most cases they will be taken by connected machines that interact with each other. That’s the essence of the “Internet of Things”.

TEDxSilkRoad speaker Patrice Slupowski will uncover a veil on these sensors which will be present everywhere, out in the external environment, inside our homes but also around and inside our bodies.

The interaction of these sensors with other machines and with us will open new possibilities. Right now, sensors exist to measure our biometrics and body patterns, rate our health, track our food consumption, determine our stress and sleep quality, map our social interactions and even our mood. New devices are being created to produce rich data on ourselves. This data is enabling the creation of a personal “health score” that in a near future will allow us to unlock a “personal science” and “personal medicine” that will address our very own health situation.

What started as a trend embraced by highly specialized groups like the pioneering Quantified Self is spreading beyond early adopters and reaching an early majority thanks to brands producing consumer products like Jawbone (with the Jawbone UP), Fitbit and most recently Nike (with the Nike Fuelband, see below).

The near future holds great opportunities for the human kind and its interaction with the environment, external and internal. Come and discover these opportunities at TEDxSilkRoad!