Interesting quote you got there and I liked the comment of Graham (#8) a lot too. He ends with the question if internet can ever replace a direct hug or handshake? Maybe not? But I sure can image that we can exchange emotions through the internet in some time. Computer will be able to translate emotions or feelings, take the Philips Ambilight for instance. If we succeed in translating our emotions into the right set of ’sound’ ‘touch’ ‘colours’ and maybe even ’smell’ that might be possible!?

@Jonathan: Thanks for the pointer to Leadbeater’s book…will have to check that out.

@Graham: Thanks for the nice comment, Graham! You give us a nice summary of technology and interaction…I recently read that the inverted pyramid style of writing may have emerged from the telegraph and it’s limitations…you had to get the most important bits of the message over first, in case the entire thing didn’t go through.

Communication technology over the ages has always been a replacement for face-to-face interaction between two (or more) people. The goal is to mimic in-person interaction while negating the factor of distance.

For example, although the telegraph allowed two people to communicate (relatively) quickly over thousands of miles, the drawback is that you couldn’t interact in real time, communications were subject to misinterpretation, etc.

Even the telephone is not the same as face-to-face — but it is a lot closer.

The Internet takes us yet another step closer. We can view each other’s computers, watch the same YouTube video, comment on each other’s blogs. I could be on a sailboat off the coast of the Galapagos, and you could be stationed at the South Pole. But we would still have a reasonable facsimile of face-to-face interactivity.

But no matter how improved the technology gets, will it ever replace the direct human contact of a handshake or a hug?

~Graham