Here's the topic for today - please share your thoughts in a comment!



I'm sure that holoprojections will be a big factor in long-distance communication (when it's too far to visit in person) but I'm not sure it will always replace short-distance personal contact. I figure that when it's someone you don't want to make physical contact with it won't matter, but when you would… you're going to want to have that option. Still, I do wonder if society will change how it values real personal touch over time.

Not to be overly snarky, but isn't that what Skype is for? Full body holograms would add an element of novelty, I guess, but I don't think it'd be any kind of game changer. I guess, in theory, I never need to physically visit my relatives or friends and neighbors; I can just videochat with them. But in general, people like to go places and do things, and when they do they like to do so with friends. So I don't think in and of itself it changes much.

There are situations in which it *could* change things quite a bit. Say, if the hologram (or an augmented reality avatar or somesuch) is an AI that mirrors your friend or family member's personality, so you can hold a conversation with them without them being present. That could potentially change things quite a bit.

I think it also depends on how it would work. Would it follow the person around or just be like looking at the screen in a video chat? If it just stands there it's more than Skype and can help fill the emptiness of being far away, but replace personal contact? Can't hug a hologram unless you're talking a Star Trek level of sophistication like the holodeck.

I had Skyped with another Drunk Ducker numerous times but meeting her in person blew that away. Will a full hologram buy you lunch at a street restaurant?

It would mainly be a further evolution of video chat, like Bravo and Elcid commented.
It'd be a good for the sex industry and cam girls.
In the end though it would bring people closer together physically: because the tech would get them so used to the other person being there that they'd miss them when they weren't chatting and so would be far more likely to jump on a plane. 😁

bravo1102 wrote:
I think it also depends on how it would work. Would it follow the person around or just be like looking at the screen in a video chat? If it just stands there it's more than Skype and can help fill the emptiness of being far away, but replace personal contact? Can't hug a hologram unless you're talking a Star Trek level of sophistication like the holodeck.

I had Skyped with another Drunk Ducker numerous times but meeting her in person blew that away. Will a full hologram buy you lunch at a street restaurant?

For this example let's say that a holoprojection, when you have augmented reality active one way or another, is like a person standing there who can track with your movement (either automatically or because they moved in their own location). I had posited for my comic that by 2118 such things are MOSTLY immobile (as holocam setups to create the projection are only so flexible) but there's no reason why they couldn't be able to support more movement on the part of the projection “owner”, like if they had a bunch of flying cams that moved with them.

If it's little more than Skype that one can see the sides and back of, it won't change behavior much more than video chatting has over the telephone.

Though it will do wonders for the sex industry. Video chat where you can see everything in 3D.