Will technology replace the need to travel?

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meow20
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Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by meow20 » Fri, 24. Sep 21, 01:24

Will technology replace the need for physical travel? Or in other words will technology completely make travel obsolete? When I say travel I mean flying to another country for holidays or to visit family or friends

I know Zoom and a whole bunch of videoconferencing platforms can partially do that already but I am not talking about that, I am talking about technology FDVR (Full Dive VR), Mind Uploading or Singularity/Cyborgs?

If we had such technology, does it mean that airports, cruise ships and conventional travel will be a thing of the past?

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clakclak
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Re: Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by clakclak » Fri, 24. Sep 21, 12:00

Maybe it has to do with the way I go on holiday but I have no clue how technology could ever be able to replace the conversation with a stranger on the corner of a foreign country, the taste of beer and smell of species you are not used to on a market, the burning feeling of the desert sun or the chill of cold air close to the coast, the kiss shared with a holiday romance. All these are things I don't think technology could ever immitade.
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mr.WHO
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Re: Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by mr.WHO » Fri, 24. Sep 21, 12:51

Radio didn't fully replaced newspapers and books.
TV didn't fully replaced Radio.
Internet didn't fully replaced TV.


The remote connection and VR will not fully replace travel and face to face meetings, but will repace the "inneficient" part.

It's really convinient and efficient to have a remote call work and don't havign to waste time, energy and fuel to drive to work, but some calls and meeting are too improtant or complex to be done via call (plus security - you probably don't want to discuss multi-million deal via zoom call).


This is even more evident for no-work related meetings.
Having a video call with family and not having to travel 8h to meet them is very convinient, but won't replace the holiday meetings.

Technology for sure will not be able to replace tourist travel - I had some 360 camera tours for museum and tourist in internet, but this is crap, even in VR. Probably even Matrix level VR would not be ale to fully simulate a real life travel.

Alan Phipps
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Re: Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by Alan Phipps » Fri, 24. Sep 21, 15:04

I suspect that if we commonly had available and affordable the level of simulation technology you mention, the various means of transportation will also have evolved so much that travel could well be trivial compared to today. Also you could probably plan and preview your holiday/meeting in VR while actually travelling to it and so make the journey itself both productive and painless.

Of course pure VR visiting would still have an application where there are significant health risks or physical hazards to the visitor at the destination.
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jlehtone
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Re: Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 24. Sep 21, 18:07

meow20 wrote:
Fri, 24. Sep 21, 01:24
If we had such technology, does it mean that airports, cruise ships and conventional travel will be a thing of the past?
How will you get your shiny FDVR kit from China, if (air)ports are demolished as unnecessary?

sh4l0m
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Re: Will technology replace the need to travel?

Post by sh4l0m » Sun, 26. Sep 21, 01:14

mr.WHO wrote:
Fri, 24. Sep 21, 12:51
Radio didn't fully replaced newspapers and books.
TV didn't fully replaced Radio.
Internet didn't fully replaced TV.


The remote connection and VR will not fully replace travel and face to face meetings, but will repace the "inneficient" part.

It's really convinient and efficient to have a remote call work and don't havign to waste time, energy and fuel to drive to work, but some calls and meeting are too improtant or complex to be done via call (plus security - you probably don't want to discuss multi-million deal via zoom call).


This is even more evident for no-work related meetings.
Having a video call with family and not having to travel 8h to meet them is very convinient, but won't replace the holiday meetings.

Technology for sure will not be able to replace tourist travel - I had some 360 camera tours for museum and tourist in internet, but this is crap, even in VR. Probably even Matrix level VR would not be ale to fully simulate a real life travel.
Being in the Matrix would be like being in a sensory deprivation tank, I don't remember a single smell in the movies ;-)

And this is evident of 'rationalist' thinking.. that is to say, not a rational mindset, but one that only or almost exclusively registers that which can be counted. (And yes, I know you 'quoted' inefficient.)
The (rather) obvious problem with such is that before a thing(that is real & not a mere(or not even an) arbitrary representation of the real) can be counted it must be conceptualized, qualitatively processed as a valid thing to investigate, investigated & a framework which incorporates the quantitative values into the pre-existing structures that corporate the 'things worth remembering going forwards...' built & maintained.

(Perhaps) Needless to say, but 'efficient' is only a valid term when describing known processes working towards known goals. [It's not your fault :-)] We tend, of course, to translate concepts from one field that appear to work, to others. Efficiency is one such, a valid term with a very narrow focus that simply does not apply in most 'places' where it's used.


It's interesting tho, ofc. Idk if most people have the tools, mentally, to construct & maintain purely digital relationships as more than just acquaintences(sic). We evolved societies, social patterns & platforms in which the majority of mid to long-term relationships were formed in (or via) the workplace. I'm not sure anybody believes we can do without them yet the pressure is to do just that - but without, yet again, any real analysis of what this will mean socially. Already the social system in the uk(eg) could be described as 'never before have so many lived off of the effort of so few.'


Need. The only need society has is to exist & to believe it can exist tomorrow, yet it never will because a society is conceptual & whatever is conceptual is defined the by the -izer & the -izer is always changing.. What people need as individuals cannot be very well defined because if they read that definition they will try to define themselves in opposition to it. We need to decolonize.. we need to save the poor africans from fgm & starvation & slavery & economic exploitation by 'the others.' We need to respect & love nature - we need to strive to stultify nature. We need freedom.. to form a tyranny. We need to protect people - from doing what they want.


Will it anyway tho? If human history is a record of anything, it's a record of an unplanned & atavistic hopping from one generation to the next with largely only accidental accumulation of valid experience that survives more than a decade. Some irrationally cling to the irrelevant past & some irrationally dive into the future to avoid irrelevancy.


/rant? :)
Last edited by sh4l0m on Sun, 26. Sep 21, 01:16, edited 1 time in total.

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