TimOReillyAMA

Yes, there is definitely a biotech revolution. We've been watching this for some years. When IGEM (the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition for high schoolers) started some years back, we knew it was only a matter of time. We've been looking at this area for at least a dozen years, and it seems to be heating up.

Yes, I will be at the Maker Faire. I believe I'm interviewing science fiction author Daniel Suarez on stage, in fact.

Re 3D printing, the biggest news to me is not going to be in 3D printing, but in other forms of digital manufacturing. See for example the Othercutter http://othermachine.co/ or Taktia http://taktia.com/

These are small scale - but extrapolate out. Digital manufacturing affects buildings, machine tools, etc.

3D printing is just a gateway drug to get people using the tools of digital design and manufacturing. Once you learn how to design and make stuff, a world of new tools will open up.

You might say that 3D printing is the "hello world" of digital manufacturing.

I think it's a "perfect storm." Yes, there are lots of new sensors everywhere (especially in our phones - don't make the mistake of thinking that IoT requires new devices - the phone can be one important half of the system.) And yes, the maker movement has gotten people excited about hardware again. And yes, the big data infrastructure is in place to make use of the sensor data for useful applications.

But it's also a bit of what George Soros calls "reflexive truth." Things become true to the extent people believe in them. And movements in technology are like that: self-reinforcing waves, where one success draws imitators. So it starts with makers doing it for love, but the investors and entrepreneurs pile on when they see an exit for a MakerBot, or a Tesla, or a Nest.

Our basic goal is to provide the knowledge that helps make the future happen. We started with books, then conferences, added Safari as an online library, and increasingly, online training, then OATV for investment. It's all fuel for the fire that burns up the present and turns it into the future. Our core idea is to help the people who are making interesting futures happen. Because it isn't just any future we want. It is a better one, for everyone. And that's why I'm involved in activism as well as just selling picks and shovels to the miners. E.g. I spend a lot of time with codeforamerica.org, trying to help get government to use technology more wisely.

A lot of manufacturers are going to do half-assed jobs, but bit by bit, we will figure out how to do it right. Think back to the early web. We are at a moment now like the one where everyone realized that they had to have a website. Some websites were good, some bad, but in the end, the web as a whole got better, despite a lot of truly horrendous websites along the way.

Adding connectivity to things is going to be the same way. Some people will do it badly, others beautifully. And when the good ones win, others learn from them.