Tom Emrich (Super Ventures / AWE) on Perceptual Computing and Human Evolution
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The Guest
Tom Emrich is sometimes called the “man from the future”, and is recognized as one of the world’s leading thought leaders and influencers in AR, VR and wearable technology.
Tom brings over a decade-long track record of running tech teams and providing strategic direction in emerging technologies for powerhouse brands such as Nestlé, Best Buy and MTV.
In 2013, Tom founded We Are Wearables, which he grew to be the largest wearable tech community of its kind prior to its acquisition by AugmentedReality.org, and rebranded and refocused as AWE Nite Meetups.
Tom continues to nurture and grow the AR & VR ecosystem as Co-Producer of AWE.
Many of you are familiar with AWE, which has grown from being a conference in the US to multiple conferences, expos and meetups across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Tom is also an active investor and partner at Super Ventures, a fund dedicated to augmented reality.
The Conversation
His passion for this space is driven by his belief that perceptual computing plays a critical role in our human evolution. And that passion and belief certainly comes through in this conversation.
Tom shares his take on hearables, the current crop of consumer-focused smartglasses, and some of the opportunity and remaining challenges for enterprise adoption. He also shares his thoughts on Apple’s plans for 2020.
Tom encourages an expansive view of the term “spatial computing” to include all spatial-oriented tasks performed by computers, including robots, drones, and self-driving cars.
Tom also gets into spatial computing’s potential effect on our notions of death, self, consumption, and relationships with each other. Tom gets philosophical in this one.
We start by talking about Tom’s comfort...and discomfort on the stage.
The Request
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Links From The Episode
- Post: 19 for ‘19: Augmented Reality Trends & How They May Play Out This Year by Tom Emrich
- Post: The AR Roundup: April 2019 by Tom Emrich
- Event: AWE USA - May 29-31 in Santa Clara. Get 20% off with this code: AWESPKR20
- Book: The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality by Blake J. Harris