Cool Things My Friends Do - Richard MacKinnon and BorgFest

Each week on this blog I enjoy highlighting some of the cool things my friends do in their personal and professional lives.

Do you believe that humans will augment our bodies with technology?  Is resistance futile?  Will we be assimilated? 

My friend Richard MacKinnon is the organizer of a new startup festival, BorgFest, in Austin scheduled for October 2014. It's a cyborg festival and expo for human augmentation, enhancement, body modification, and wearable tech. 

In order to make this event special, Richard will focus on the culture and identity aspects of human bodies changed by technological intervention. As we all get older, more and more of our bodies will be replaced or augmented and we will end up drawing attention to ourselves in not always positive ways. 

How is the human body is changing, as well as our identities?  What does it means to be human?

Borgfest will bring together people whose bodies and identities have changed (from accidents, war injuries, medical issues, etc...), their families, service providers, vendors, product companies, researchers, and startups that are disrupting the medical device industry with 3D printers and other rapid prototyping and iterating technologies.

Here's the vision statement from his website:  http://borgfest.com

How can you help today? There is something that you can do RIGHT NOW...and I mean NOW (Until March 15, 2014).  Richards needs your vote in the WINSXSW Contest sponsored by VentureBeat and BuzzStarter. 

If he wins he will receive cash and recognition. This will be helpful in putting together the sponsor pitches needed to fund and scope the festival. The bigger the budget, the more people will can include in the first year! So here's the link to vote with your Twitter account:

http://winsxsw.buzzstarter.com/Phase1/borg-fest

I look forward to seeing BorgFest come together.  Congrats to Richard on this cool project ("Cool Things My Friends Do" week #96).

Have A Great Day.

thom singer