Would you be able to survive one day without your television? Computer? your Blackberry? Our grandparents didn't need them. Some of our parents lived without them. And yet these technologies are now an integral part of our lives, for better or for worse. Where will the wired world lead us next? And will we be happy with what we find at that destination?

Neil Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, and has been named one of Scientific American's 50 leaders in science and technology. He is best known as a pioneer in personal fabrication--small-scale manufacturing enabled by digital technologies, which gives people the tools to build literally anything they can imagine.

Raymond Laflamme is the Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, and an Associate Faculty member at Perimeter Institute. Amongst his most important theoretical results was inventing, with Emmanuel Knill and Gerard Milburn, a radically new approach to Quantum computing using linear optics.

Jaron Lanier is the author of You Are Not A Gadget and was a pioneer in, and popularized the term, 'Virtual Reality'. His monthly column Jaron's World in Discover magazine is devoted to his own wide ranging ideas and research that include computational approaches to the fundamentals of physics. His current appointments include Interdisciplinary Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley.

Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume epic The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. His most recent book is Anathem.

Tara Hunt is the author of The Whuffie Factor and has spent the past fifteen years living her life online. From the first wave of online marketing as it emerged in the late 90's while in Canada all the way to being a pioneer of new marketing in Silicon Valley in 2005, leading the wave into Web 2.0: the participatory web.

Neil Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, and has been named one of Scientific American's 50 leaders in science and technology. He is best known as a pioneer in personal fabrication--small-scale manufacturing enabled by digital technologies, which gives people the tools to build literally anything they can imagine.

Raymond Laflamme is the Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, and an Associate Faculty member at Perimeter Institute. Amongst his most important theoretical results was inventing, with Emmanuel Knill and Gerard Milburn, a radically new approach to Quantum computing using linear optics.

Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume epic The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. His most recent book is Anathem.

Tara Hunt is the author of The Whuffie Factor and has spent the past fifteen years living her life online. From the first wave of online marketing as it emerged in the late 90's while in Canada all the way to being a pioneer of new marketing in Silicon Valley in 2005, leading the wave into Web 2.0: the participatory web.

Jaron Lanier is the author of You Are Not A Gadget and was a pioneer in, and popularized the term, 'Virtual Reality'. His monthly column Jaron's World in Discover magazine is devoted to his own wide ranging ideas and research that include computational approaches to the fundamentals of physics. His current appointments include Interdisciplinary Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley.

Sandra Gionas is a producer for The Agenda with Steve Paikin. She has been at TVO for eleven years, first as a producer for the Daily Unit at Studio 2, and then as a producer for More 2 Life. She has covered health and education issues extensively for TVO. Sandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. Follow Sandra on Twitter.

Sandra Gionas is a producer for The Agenda with Steve Paikin. She has been at TVO for eleven years, first as a producer for the Daily Unit at Studio 2, and then as a producer for More 2 Life. She has covered health and education issues extensively for TVO. Sandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. Follow Sandra on Twitter.

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