Good idea, but it’ll be a lot more than 5 years until telecommunications can come close to the richness of face-to-face contact. (Just one example.) Probably more important still is the difference between having to set up a conversation vs. having people constantly at hand, feeling like they’re at hand, and being constantly available yourself.
Probably more important still is the difference between having to set up a conversation vs. having people constantly at hand, feeling like they’re at hand, and being constantly available yourself.
When facebook chat meets skype meets WoW, this will cease to be a problem. 5, maybe 10 years. Think WiMax.
Lanier’s article is interesting. But the things people already do on WoW contradict most of the thrust of the argument that you are making. WoW avatars are primitive imitations of the human form… with NO facial features at all! Yet, people have got married on the basis of WoW interactions.
The difference, I suspect, is that in WoW people interact with each other in a virtual world, whereas in videoconferencing you just have a disembodied, pixellated head to look at.
Good idea, but it’ll be a lot more than 5 years until telecommunications can come close to the richness of face-to-face contact. (Just one example.) Probably more important still is the difference between having to set up a conversation vs. having people constantly at hand, feeling like they’re at hand, and being constantly available yourself.
When facebook chat meets skype meets WoW, this will cease to be a problem. 5, maybe 10 years. Think WiMax.
Lanier’s article is interesting. But the things people already do on WoW contradict most of the thrust of the argument that you are making. WoW avatars are primitive imitations of the human form… with NO facial features at all! Yet, people have got married on the basis of WoW interactions.
The difference, I suspect, is that in WoW people interact with each other in a virtual world, whereas in videoconferencing you just have a disembodied, pixellated head to look at.