Over lunch today, the topic came up of how things that we take for granted as being limitations in the physical world gradually give way as technology advances.
My recent discussion about the horseless carriage and the eBook are just two examples of technologies gradually dissociating from their more physically bound forebears. Another notable example is the Web itself. Initial web interface metaphors were all based on pages of paper documents. We still use the word “page” when talking about the web, but the look and feel of such sites as YouTube and FaceBook are radically different from anything you’d see on paper.
Only ten years ago it was considered radical and risky when Valve Software built their “Steam” software for delivering PC games over the internet (rather than making people go to the store to buy something in a box). Now we simply take such things for granted.
The same thing has happened with music, with movies, and with just about every consumable information object. Actual physical embodiment is increasingly being consigned to the role of generic player of content (e.g. the iPad), rather than anything content specific.
I wonder whether this trend will extend to embodied social interaction. After all, once we are all wearing those A.R. glasses, you will be able to hang with your friends in the same apparent physical space, even share a “meal” at a restaurant, with no actual physical presence required.
And when the transition has happened, will we even notice?
Its already happening, right? We can “hangout” easily via Skype or Google Hangouts by clicking a button on a web page and sitting in front of a ubiquitous camera built into a laptop (after checking your hair and mic, of course ;-). I can even look at your computer screen if you share it with me. It isn’t just like being there, but it is another alternative and an increasingly attractive one (as the technology improves). Just like we still go to live concerts and plays and take vacations in exotic places, I’m sure we’ll still go to the extra effort and expense to meet in person too. The technology gives us more choices. And even if the A.R. glasses makes it feel more like you’re sitting in the restaurant with me when you’re 3000 miles away, I still can’t get a taste of your dessert virtually.
Exactly! Check out my next post. 🙂