We Will Become Robots

Inside the most recent Technology Quarterly report from The Economist covers so-called smart fabrics – textiles with embedded electronics – that can turn wearers into human radio antennas, electromagnetic shields, heart monitors, motion sensors and power sources. There’s a sports bra that can count calories and a jacket that can pocket-charge your iPod while you control it using your jacket sleeve.

The potential end game, as written in the article, is a highly interesting one:

"Smart clothing could not only blur the lines between materials and electronics, but if items of clothing start to absorb previously discrete devices, between people and machines."

Comprehensive as the article is on the implications, the article did miss a key one : it sounds like we’ll be able to be a costumed comic book superhero any day now.

Economist
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