This is an opinion editorial by Sydney Bright, a professional science writer on the topic of health benefits from mindfulness-based practices. Where is technology taking us? Will robots surpass our intelligence and replace us altogether? Will we combine with machines in some symbiotic merge that creates a new super being? Or are machines merely tools that will allow our more fundamental nature to thrive? In this article, I will argue that technology is how human beings will be able to return to a more natural life that is devoid of the harsh realities that existed 10,000 years ago. Those who are aware of my work on the science of meditation ask me why there is also a discussion of economics and Bitcoin on my blog. First, I feel that any curious mind should be well-rounded: Multiple fields of study are worth pursuing, as they all compile a more complete understanding of reality. At first, I felt that they were simply separate interests of mine. However, now I have come to realize that they are partly connected and suggest an exciting forecast for humanity's future.

Pick an industry – any industry – and you can virtually guarantee that AI will have been hailed as its next big thing. The cryptocurrency sector is no different, with many of 2017's ICOs shoehorning the concept into their whitepapers somewhere in a bid to appear "cutting edge" and in touch with the zeitgeist. But beyond all the hype, what impact will artificial intelligence have on the crypto industry, and could its rise ultimately render human traders obsolete? AI is to tech what "blockchain" is to the cryptocurrency industry: a concept whose genuine applications are significantly outnumbered by the projects interested solely in latching onto the buzzword and surfing it for all it's worth. Given that startups described as being involved with AI attract 15-50% more funding than other tech firms, it's understandable why companies are so keen to cash in on the hype.

As hedge funds rush to enter the cryptocurrency space, the landscape for retail cryptocurrency investors is fundamentally changing before our very eyes. Guy breaks down the implications of this fundamental shift and we discuss how the community can prepare for the rise of AI in crypto trading. To understand the extent in which AI is taking over hedge funds, we need only to look at the statistics. AI is set to replace 90,000 asset management jobs and 45 thousand sales and trading jobs by 2025. Famous hedge funds that are already employing AI in their trading are Renaissance Technologies, Two Sigma, and Bridgewater Associates.

The British Artificial Intelligence (AI) company DeepMind Technologies, a subsidiary of Google, recently revealed it will be utilizing a blockchain technology. The firm will use a distributed ledger application to better secure patient data. DeepMind is a software firm that builds algorithms for simulations, applications, and gaming protocols. The company is well known for creating a machine learning platform that learns how to play video games. DeepMind has also built a Neural Turing Machine which mimics a human's short-term memory.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is profoundly altering everything around us, even the way we live. This revolution promises to create greater efficiencies in all industry sectors and to spectacularly maximize human wellbeing. However, for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to be successful, an open, borderless, payment protocol must be in place. The Fourth Industrial Revolution brings all-encompassing change at a magnitude humanity has never before experienced. Essentially, this revolution is changing humans.

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist from Florida thats been entrenched in the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written hundreds of articles about the disruptive protocols emerging today.