The 2012 edition of the International Consumer Electronics Show just concluded in Las Vegas.

I was fortunate to be one of the 140,000 individuals who attended the event which combined dazzling technology, agressive networking, pontificating pundits, client/partner/internal meetings, and alcohol infused get togethers, meals and parties.

After three days of participating in all the activities noted above and listening to wonderful experts my summary is things are getting larger, thinner, faster, clearer, cheaper and more connected, while everybody is lusting after or leaking into everybody else's business.

CNET, Engadget and the New York Times, among others have wonderful insights and reviews on what was hot, what was not and what it all meant. I encourage you to read their summaries for their thoughts on the cornucopia of gadgetry.

This post is not about the things and the objects I saw in eight hours of walking the floors but on the feelings and thoughts I took away. It is what one carbon life form felt among the twinkling of silcon wizardry.

1. Optimismn: Despite the currently over pessimistic perspective about the economy or the state of the world, things are actually getting better. And technology is absolutely magical in making it so. More and more people can afford some of the most mind blowing technologies that let us discover more, entertain more, express more, learn more, be more productive in finding a job or at a job and save more. For a cost of less than $250 a month, a family can have a 50 inch state of the art television, a tablet, a powerful home computer, a couple of smart phones, a decent internet connection, and access to  streaming movies via Netflix and music via Spotify.And the power and connections of Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and much more. Globally, smarter and cheaper phones are providing opportunites for both a better life and people revolution. We all have "God like" power.

2. A Need For Feminity and Fashion: At an AOL sponsored meeting, Christian Kugel shared research that nearly half of folks would be willing to sacrifice a family pet than rather give up a computer or mobile phone. These objects have become a part of us and we have a strong emotional connection to them. At the same meeting, Tim Armstrong decried how all the interfaces and devices were undifferentiated in looks, designed primarily by a male tech culture at platform companies. I came to the same conclusion when I saw how many companies were hawking accessories that allowed people to add a sense of personality, art, whimsy and fun to jungle of black and glass. From cheap Chinese plastic to highly expensive Italian leather. From characters to sounds. From Swiss Army knives where the blades were replaced by USB keys, tiny cameras and much more. As we carry around more silicon objects and in many cases they become smaller and wearable, there is a huge opportunity and need for fashion. I do hope Vogue and not just Wired has a big presence at the show in the future.

3. Connectivity is a two edged sword: Everything is getting connected from large objects like televisions and automobiles to smaller objects like pedometers and watches. Humans like interaction, but we will soon reach the stage of more than occasionally wanting to be disconnected. It was only when I left the panels, meetings, gatherings and put down the phone and just walked around either the show or between the hotels or swam could I think and actually be me. Otherwise I was finding myself in the flow of the status quo. It is important to recognize that our minds are being both enriched but also colonized by connectivity. If I am constantly connected and interacting with you and your thoughts what will happen to "me"? Man is both a social animal but also a solitary one. Robert Frost noted that " Two roads diverged in a wood and I -  I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference ".

4. Mongrel living will create huge new business opportunites: Humanity is slowly blending silicon and carbon, analog and digital to become a hybrid mongrel being. We are more empowered by "bits and bytes"  and more enlivened to feel the  "bursts and bites" of the world and people around us. There will be experts in advising us on this intersection from psychologists to film makers, poets and a range of artists. There will be companies that not only manage our online reptuation and "klout", but also how do we relate to the lingering online presence of those we loved and are not around and should we plan for an ongoing silicon presence when our carbon presence gives up the ghost? More pragmatically, connected homes will require hundreds of thousands of contractors from electricians to builders to become mini-geek squads as short silicon life cycles intersect with the longer life cycles of brick and wood.

As humans and as businesses we will need to learn to live in a world of carbon and silicon, of being off the grid and being deeply connected, of being here and there and everywhere. We will have to become comfortable with our inherent duality and oddly come to realize that Andy Grove's advice of "only the paranoid thrive" has given way in a mongrel world  to one where we will have to be schizophrenic to thrive.  '[tweetmeme source="@rishadt" only_single=false]'