I wrote a post here some months ago about what it is like to experience of really good quality telepresence. But I didn’t address the question of what this technology might mean for physical travel.
At first blush it might seem that telepresence — were it to become a raging and universal success — would put a dampener on air travel. But I’ve been wondering whether this is really true. The effect might be quite the opposite.
Many of us remember the predictions of the “paperless office”. The thinking, as computers started to take hold in the work place, was that there would no longer be any need for paper. Printers, scanners, inter-office envelopes, manila folders — in the age of computers these were all supposed to go the way of the slide rule. Yet as we know, they are still here, arguably stronger and more omnipresent than ever.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ability to speak with complete fidelity to people in another part of the world will only increase the desire of people to meet in person, thereby causing travel around the world not to decrease, but rather to increase.