JANUARY 23-24, 2026
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Part 1: Our 2026 Theme, Dreaming Machines
Human experience, as we know it, is arguably mediated by systems of language, belief, and social agreement. What we commonly perceive as “reality” is shaped not only by physical constraints, but by shared frameworks of meaning, interpretation, and power that are learned, internalized, and reinforced over time. This understanding—articulated in the well-known work of philosopher Don Miguel Ruiz—frames consciousness as operating within collectively constructed experiential states that influence perception, behavior, and agency, often without conscious awareness.
Recent advances in experiential technologies introduce a new phase in this process. Artificial intelligence, spatial computing, immersive media, and intelligent systems actively generate experiential environments with increasing capability. These systems synthesize inputs, model possibility spaces, and produce interactions that resemble exploratory or generative states rather than deterministic outputs. In doing so, they function as dreaming machines: systems that participate in the construction of human experience.
The central question is no longer whether such systems will shape perception, agency, and behavior; they already do. But how intentionally are they designed, governed, and deployed, and toward what ends?
Part 2: Our Purpose
Those familiar with our mission understand that Reality Hack–specifically our flagship hackathon, Reality Hack @ MIT–exists to address this question through creator empowerment and interdisciplinary collaboration. We operate from the premise that those who design experiential systems bear responsibility for their social, cultural, and institutional consequences. Our work emphasizes agency over consumption, authorship over passive use, and collective deliberation over isolated innovation.
This orientation rejects both technological determinism and unbounded experimentation detached from real-world impact. Instead, Reality Hack situates experiential technology within broader societal goals, including sustainability, equity, education, and human well-being while placing the greatest emphasis on empowering creators to experiment and build rather than verbally speculate.
Yet we recognize that advancing technology at the frontier is inherently complex and often fragmented across disciplines. Technologists, creators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and policymakers tend to operate within specialized domains, limiting opportunities for shared understanding. Thus we created a companion event, the EXPERIENTIAL Innovation Conference, to convene these communities as a forum for examining challenges, aligning incentives, and exchanging knowledge across institutional boundaries.
Our ecosystem of programs, including our year-round initiative RH for Startups, reflects this structure. Hands-on experimentation, venture formation, and public-facing discourse are treated as complementary modes of inquiry essential to translating ideas into deployable systems and, ultimately, societal impact.
In short: dreaming machines names both a technological reality and a responsibility: the growing capacity of machines to shape experience, and the obligation of humans to guide that capacity with intention and rigor, while EXPERIENTIAL provides the space for reflection within this ecosystem.
SESSION PERSPECTIVES
We will convene this conversation amongst technological thought leaders, executive decision-makers, and creators in the following four ways:
Emerging Paradigms: Conceptual and critical perspectives on what’s coming next in spatial computing, artificial intelligence, quantum systems, wearables, and semiconductors. This track examines long-term implications, policy, systems thinking, and the evolving role of experiential technology in society.
Learning Innovation & Research: Presentations from collaborating labs and academic departments. This track foregrounds experimental methodologies, human-subjects studies, and new models for learning and human-technology interaction.
Founders & Funders: Designed for startup founders, investors, and ecosystem builders speaking to venture formation and scaling in frontier technology markets. Sessions feature company product and platform insights from startups operating at the forefront of experiential technology.
Applied Experiential Technology: Practice-driven case studies highlighting design and deployment across verticals including digital health, global development and sustainability, telecommunications, heavy industry, gaming, aerospace, the arts, and more.
