Programmable World #TechVision Imagine, for instance, that someone on vacation In these scenarios, digital capabilities are wants to go to a restaurant for dinner. Instead of woven into the very fabric of the world, making looking at his phone for restaurants nearby, he the physical world as smart, customizable, and simply asks his AI assistant what his options are, 92% programmable as we expect the digital one to be. and through an earpiece, it points him to several People have more information about their real- nearby restaurants, highlighting their cuisine and of global executives agree world surroundings, along with greater context, reviews based on his past preferences. Upon that leading organizations and they can frictionlessly interact with their confirming his reservation, his augmented reality will push the boundaries of environment in novel and more efficient ways. (AR) glasses render a highlighted route on the the virtual world to make it sidewalk to direct him toward his destination. more real, increasing the need We’ve been building toward the programmable As he steers his wheelchair to the entrance, the for persistence and seamless world for years: Digital technologies have small staircase to the door autonomously flattens navigation between the digital proliferated across the physical world for over a into a ramp, and the restaurant receives his Yelp and physical worlds. decade. We’ve put cameras everywhere and filled profile so the server knows just what to highlight our homes with smart devices and microphones. on the menu, translated into his native language. Now, advances in natural language processing, computer vision, and edge computing are Or imagine that a worker is entering her amplifying the capabilities of those devices, company’s manufacturing plant. She puts on freeing digital interactions from being trapped and her smart jumpsuit and AR glasses and quickly turning them into an ambient and persistent layer monitors the site. A blinking notification over one reactivating machinery in accordance with safe across our environment. The global 5G rollout machine alerts her that it’s due for maintenance operating procedures. The parts arrive, and as adds more fuel to the fire, setting the stage for and the OEM has already been contacted; she removes them from the box, the packaging the further proliferation of low-power, low-latency a drone is scheduled to arrive with the necessary neatly disassembles for return to the shipping connected devices. And researchers across parts in eight minutes, but she will need to company. Her glasses have highlighted the enterprise and academia alike are working on even help install them. As she makes her way to the specific machine panel the parts are intended more transformative technologies, like AR glasses, machine, ambient cameras in the room track her for, but she verbally dismisses the training new methods of manufacturing, new kinds of movement, autonomously shutting down and tutorial being offered and gets to work. smart materials, and programmable matter. Introduction // WebMe // Programmable World // The Unreal // Computing the Impossible 43