From what I can see observing QS2011 from afar via photos, tweets, and blogs, what you’re experiencing today is almost undoubtedly the same as it was like at Apple back then. Packed in rooms with hundreds of smart, passionate, driven, free thinkers who are defining and redefining the cutting edge — sometimes moment by moment — for days at a time: is that what it feels like for you at QS2011? Alternately humbled, dwarfed, and, yes, scared; then exhilarated as I “got it” better or faster than two-thirds of the people into the room.

Yes, that is exactly what I was experiencing. I was witnessing the birth of a new industry, a new movement. This conference had all the feeling of a grassroots tech movement, not encumbered by any multinational corporate brands. This conference was more about individuals and small businesses talking about their research in self-experimentation or programming the next best social tracker. It exhibited all the passion and drive of people on a mission to change the world and in this case starting with themselves.

There is a lot to absorb. Standout sessions for me were many. Seth Roberts talked on How to self-experiment and stimulated discussion on the role of the personal (as opposed to the professional) scientist. I was intrigued by Frank Chen’s presentation on Mindful Technologies and how it applies to our interactions with systems we come into contact with on an everyday basis. He also turned me on to research at Stanford being done in Calming Technologies. Gary Wolf, contributing editor of Wired Magazine and one of the organizers for the conference lead a discussion about the Quantified Self in a Quantified World. If we are better able to keep track of our personal health activities with sensors, what about the world around us? There are sensors on cars, buildings, infrastructure, animals, plants, the air, water and earth. This opens up an area rich in opportunity to better understand our environment, natural and man made.

There was so much more and I hope to talk about them in future posts but I do want to mention Kevin Kelly‘s closing talk beautifully summarized in Ethan Zuckerman‘s blog post. Over the last 10 years information is increasing at a rate of 66% per year, equal to Moore’s Law, where every 18 months computing hardware doubles in capacity. In this case information is doubling at the same rate. The new metaphor is lifestreams, where we are all creating streams of information and the wake from these streams are influencing many around us. This raises the question of how this influence is taken and how we act on it. Can behaviors be changed? Will be take better care of ourselves? Will this lead to a better world? What is privacy in the paradigm of lifestreams?

Yes, there are more questions than I have answers. But at least we are asking the questions and not oblivious to the groundswell that is happening around us. If you are interested in this topic of the Quantified Self there is a Meetup group in Hawaii and we plan to get together in June for at debrief on QS2011. Bring your thoughts, ideas and suggestions. Hope to see you there.

During the short program, Pat Sullivan talked about being disruptive and finding new ways to use technology to make a difference. But it’s not only about being smart with technology but it is also about being smart with the connections that will get you there. Obviously Hawaii is a big Department of Defense location and the right Federal connections are important in making the equation work out. Each of the Hawaii delegation to Washington DC were on hand to talk about tech in Hawaii and Oceanit in particular. US Rep. Mazie Hirono, Sen. Daniel Akaka and Sen. Daniel Inouye each spoke. Sen Inouye brought attention to earmarks which he has been publicly criticized for. If you listen to his talk, about 30 minutes into the video, he is no where near giving up on this tool for Federal funding of special projects. All in all a delightful, thought provoking evening about what it takes to survive and thrive in Hawaii’s technology industry.

Another interesting project, still in its early stage is eCanary (aka CMC Chip). The idea behind this application, much like the name implies, is to build a device that you can place into a potentially hazardous environment, for example, poisonous gas, radioactive or particulate matter and determine if it is deadly. Instead of using a canary, CBI has developed a bio-sensor which combines live cardiac cells on an electronic detection chip. The integrated bio-electronics can detect responses to the live cells and conclude whether or not there is a hazardous condition. The photo shows a microscopic view of the live cardiac cells. In the image the cells were beating. If they were to stop beating, i.e. die, the electronics would detect this.

Mahalos go out to Hank Wuh, Georgette Ulloa, Mark Mugaishi and Mike Oneill for their gracious hospitality and informative tour. Great work being done right here in Hawaii.