The technologies each of us use make up what futurist [Jason Silva](http://vimeo.com/jasonsilva) calls, “the human exoskeleton,” or  a series of man-made tools we use to extend our abilities. Regardless of vocation, this exoskeleton used to be made up of *disconnected* tools like keys and wallets. The last fifteen years have given way to the dawn of the new kind of human exoskeleton: one comprised of multiple *interconnected* devices.  

The Internet’s reach has expanded beyond personal computers. PC to PC connection was the first step, PC to smartphone was the second, and devices like [FitBit’s Flex](http://www.fitbit.com/flex), [Nike’s FuelBand](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AALKV3K/?tag=referly-20), [Jawbone's UP](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A17IAO0/?tag=referly-20), and Misfit's Shine are ushering in the next wave. This “third wave” of connectivity is characterized by wearable, exoskeletal, devices that not only give us insights into previously unavailable data, but monitor, interact with, and augment the human body to change the way we interact with our world.

In the last two weeks, two new exoskeletal devices have been revealed: [Google’s Glass](http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-to-get-one/) and [Thalmic Labs’s MYO](https://getmyo.com/), both of which are impressive on their own, but if they could work together they could be game changers. More on that in a second, but first it's important to understand just what the MYO is.

>**What Is the MYO?** It's a product now available for [pre-order](https://getmyo.com/) by Y-Combinator company Thalmic Labs. It works by introducing a brand new kind of interaction that monitors muscle movement in your arm and then ties each movement to predetermined actions on a computer screen or in a video game. The result is similar to the computer interface in "Minority Report," but I've added a video below because it's one of those technologies that is almost impossible to describe without seeing it.

These two devices represents the first major step towards [bionic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionics) human beings. In order for [Six Million Dollar Men](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man) to become a reality, these devices will have to work together to enhance and augment the human body.

The potential compatibility of technologies like Google's Glass and the MYO is a huge deal because it would free human beings from the paradigm of tactile interaction. MYO's demo video shows just how this kind of inter-device compatibility might work by with a skiier changing their music and recording a stunt with a simple two finger swipe to the left in the air. These two devices working together would also answer criticism of Glass’s voice commands being ill suited for urban and noisy environments since individuals could manage interactions on Glass with a flick of their MYO-responsive wrist.

Compatibility is only part of the exoskeletal device equation. There is little reason the watch ([Pebble](http://getpebble.com/), iWatch), fitness tracking band (FuelBand, Flex, Up), muscular feedback band (MYO), and even a pulse monitor could not be rolled up into a single device that sits on the wrist or arm. A post espousing this very idea appeared on Hacker News this morning called, '[How Close Are We To a Single Computing Device](http://benjamingilbert.net/how-close-are-we-to-a-single-computing-device/)?' The merger of our "phones" and laptops is a very real possibility. I predict demand for exoskeletal devices to be multipurpose will drive serious device consolidation in the next decade.

Exoskeletal devices will affect everybody. The next decade will be defined by their emergence into our lives and our culture. They will change the way we think about our health, the way we create, and also dramatically alter the way we are entertained. The era of the personal computer is over. It is being replaced by the era of exoskeletal devices, and the real opportunity now, is creating the interconnected network of these exoskeletal devices. This is how the idea of the bionic man moves out of science fiction and into reality.