From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Mon Sep 10 2001 - 08:42:38 MDT
>From: "Russell Blackford" <RussellBlackford@bigpond.com>
>As for Zubrin's videotelephone example, the telephone is not, in
>any full sense, an extension of our capacity for direct,
>face-to-face communication... it is not truly an extension of our
>presence. It is actually an *alternative* to that; it is a device
>that makes intimate communication possible, not only when we are
>physically separated, but when physical presence would be
>inconvenient. With a phone, we can communicate early in the
>morning before making ourselves appear human, during the day at
>the office when we may be bad tempered and red-faced, late at
>night from the informal comfort of our bedrooms.
>It is likely that prototype videotelephones did not catch on for
>these sorts of reasons (I've seen some more precise accounts that
>suggest this, but I don't have any URLs handy at the moment).
>Anyway, if I can project my presence into your home or office or
>vehicle, I would rather wait until the technology lets me provide
>some computer-massaged idealisation, rather than the real me, in
>whatever irrelevant state of dress or undress, activity or
>sloth I find myself. Video conferencing does find uses in
>situations where telepresence is relevant and desirable. I have
>sometimes used it for simple court hearings. But that is just the
>point: technologies find their own uses. In retrospect, it is
>unsurprising that the miniaturisation of the telephone and its
>integration with fax and the Internet have proved to be higher
priorities than augmenting it with the dubious convenience of
>video.
Videophones have not caught on simply because they are currently
too expensive, and the bandwidth is not available.
When we get to ubiquitous 2nd generation bandwidth to the home ( I
call DSL 1st generation) videophones will be as common as
cellphones are today.
They may not of course be a seperate item but may be part of a
converged universal home information appliance.
My building is home to the corporate archives, and I have original
videophones just down the hall. If nothing else they are wonderfull
objets d'art.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
Disclosure notice: currently "plonked"
"Joe Dees" <joedees@addall.com>
"Party of Citizens"<citizens@vcn.bc.ca>
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