Steve Wozniak's Silicon Valley Comic Con drew a massive crowd of 65,000 attendees to its version 2.0. That's how Apple's co-founder dubbed the second edition of the convention, which is a lot more technology-focused than other Comic Con-type events. The pop culture-meets-tech convention took over San Jose over three days and it was so successful that Wozniak has already set the date for next year's edition. The third annual Silicon Valley Comic Con will happen between April 6-8 2018, returning to San Jose.
Steve Wozniak's creation
"First and foremost, I’m an engineer, and we’re all about iterations and improvements", said Steve Wozniak, who is one of the most famous and respected tech moguls in history.
He founded SVCC in 2016 to bring the best of pop culture to San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, home of the original geeks. "Silicon Valley Comic Con is all about having fun and being inspired," he added. The event had a science fair and featured NASA in a handful of panels. "I saw and learned so much. We can’t wait to build this out for next year," promised Wozniak.
Some of the most pressing issues facing Humanity have been discussed at the Silicon Valley Comic Con, both last year and in the most recent edition. We're talking about issues from colonizing Mars and engaging in DNA selection to surviving a potential Artificial Intelligence apocalypse. This time, Wozniak wanted to look ahead and imagine how the world will be like more than 50 years in the future.
Looking ahead
Convention 2.0 was themed “The Future of Humanity: Where Will We Be in 2075?”. It had a Space Village, a science fair, and hosted several NASA space exploration panels. The latest trends in robotics and virtual reality were there to be experimented with, and Wozniak also assembled a Kids S.T.E.A.M. Lab. Lots of celebrities made an appearance, aside from the already expected comic book authors and artists.
As any Comic Con would, SVCC had cosplay contests, and also threw in a "Geek Fashion Show" and a Rover.com dog cosplay contest. SVCC 2.0 also added a public outdoor festival.
Interestingly enough, Wozniak did not want to miss the national outcry on behalf of science, and so the Silicon Valley Comic Con included a rally for the March for Science that stormed the country – and some international cities – last weekend.
Some 10,000 participated in the rally, which went on without incident.
Some of the celebrities present were William Shatner, of Star Trek fame, The Flash's Grant Gustin and Tom Felton (Harry Potter's Draco), and Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd.
