Breakthroughs in quantum computing have produced a machine capable of solving a problem 3,600 times faster than a conventional computer. Wireless interfaces between a human brain and a computer could soon let paralysed patients stream their thoughts to a wheelchair or robotic limb. Graphene, a “miracle material” that is one atom thick but stronger than steel, is set to overturn the electronics industry.
These may all sound like exciting, if essentially unconnected advances, but they are not. Each one of them marks the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a convergence of the digital, physical and biological worlds that I believe is poised to disrupt every industry on the planet.
