gistfile1.rs

trait AsRef<T: ?Sized> {
    fn convert_as_ref(&self) -> &T;
}

trait Into<T> {
    fn convert_into(self) -> T;
}

trait From<T> {
    fn from(T) -> Self;
}

trait Convert {
    fn as_ref<T>(&self) -> &T where Self: AsRef<T>;
    fn into<T>(self) -> T where Self: Into<T>;
}

impl<T> Convert for T {
    fn as_ref<T>(&self) -> &T where Self: AsRef<T> {
        self.convert_as_ref()
    }   
    fn into<T>(self) -> T where Self: Into<T> {
        self.convert_into()
    }
}

// Now you can do:

foo.into::<Bar>()
baz.as_ref::<str>()