The future of communication: absent bodies and zero emotion

One cannot not communicate - yet how will we approach our fellow human beings and talk to each other in future? Do we still need them and do they need us? It seems that sooner or later email may be replaced by the message services of social media portals such as Facebook, GooglePlus or StudiVZ. At Frankfurt Book Fair, LABKULTUR.TV catched some visionary insight and views from experts of the digital initiative SPARKS.

 

It's not about the fear that we might not have to say anything to each other any more. When e-mail becomes defunct, it's no big deal. Modern companies such as SoundCloud have been using Skype for their internal communication for a long time. The more interesting question is however: How will seemingly simple and more convenient forms of communication influence our social interaction in future? So it is possible that we won't need telephones as an interface and that humans will communicate and exchange thoughts and information via implanted micro chips.

 

Yet if we won't meet on the balcony for a smoke and a quick chat because it has already been taken care of via neuronal ways, what will we do? And who will be listening? Are humans getting close to a cyber existence and will human bodies and feelings even continue to be acceptable in an increasingly digitalised habitat? Will we even have to be present if we want to talk to someone?

 

 

Text: Boris Alexander Knop