"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." ~ Albert Einstein
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” ~ Nikola Tesla
ACT I – People, Chapter I
THE history of the human being is an adventure in space. We are born in time but also space, a dimension we grow into, unlike time which is always diminishing. We live our lives in bodies which occupy space, and we move around in space, if we are lucky, all our lives. The world around us consists of organized space and, if we remain lucky, wild spaces organized by Mother Nature. To live life as a human is to be unconsciously aware our whole lives of space and spaciality. We occupy one space at a time, but omnipresence has forever been a mythical desire we assign to God or whatever Gods we choose to believe in. Human empires have always been obsessed with space, often for its own sake. As if space itself were the asset, long before any riches discovered. The digital revolution has transformed the space-time continuum, allowing us to zoom between continental business meetings, flitting between time zones at will. But essentially we remain creatures of space, localized and always homing to base. Despite all the telephones, televisions, internet environments and metaverses, we still gravitate to other human presence as a preference. Humans dream of ubiquity but live lives of quiddity, creatures of flesh and blood moving around in space. Holograms, and the spatial world they build out into, not only promise to enrich our surrounding spaces but offer us wholly new ways to be present with others.
Technically speaking, holographic telepresence is a faculty currently reserved for celebrities, rock stars and politicos. Like the first automobiles on the road in the late nineteenth century. Eye-catching, but few and far between. But now is the time to explore the possibilities of mass adoption, and to prefigure how our world would work should telepresence become ubiquitous. And the technology is very much available for it to.
Telephones were a prestige item in households for decades. Today, only the Luddites forego smartphones. Technologies have a habit of hanging around a while in beta, before snowballing. Gradually, and then suddenly. Human telepresence is currently reserved for concerts, for political appearances and for legacy cultural heroes. But what if it were as available as, say, that zoom call? What is the spatial realm exactly, and how do humans inhabit it? Most of all, what can we do in it we couldn’t already? To answer, first think of yourself as spatial.
More than any technology capability, the spatial realm is a mindset and an attitude. Automobiles, cinema and flight revolutionized human lives in the last century. Our ability to move about, to experience other lives and to flatten distances became godlike, decade by decade. In the last thirty years or so the internet – and especially its mobile incarnation – again revolutionized our life. These inventions have delivered the illusion of ubiquity, but they have also at times detached us from our reality. ‘Meat space’ was a term that geeks deployed to mean life. And many of them, increasingly the young, abstained.
Technology has supplied the illusion of global ubiquity but has also removed us from local contexts and spaces. In contrast, the space around us appears impoverished. Everywhere can begin to feel a lot like Nowhere in human terms as our local space loses its human touch. The spatial realm is not a fantastic escape into an otherworld of super-reality. A fork in the road tells us we’re not in Kansas anymore and here comes the metaverse beyond. But real space is just getting started.
There are essentially two ways of looking at the universe, as perfect already or crying out for change. But what if there were a third option, liking the perfection of the meat space we inhabit but also aware of possible extensions of the enjoyment it provides? You can disappear behind a headset never to surface, or you can use technology to reinvent the limits of what is. People are the first ingredients of the spatial realm, and this is a new space that allows us to become more rather than less present to the other people we share life with. Self-actualization and transcendence form the apex of Maslov’s pyramid, the pinnacle of our human needs - aspects of our humanity open to us in the spatial realm.
What does it mean to self-actualize or to transcend? It means expressing who you truly are beneath it all, wisely putting your talents to work so they multiply. Transcending the limits of time and space around us. We call such people stars, and such ability star quality. Holographic appearances may be limited at present to the already famous, but pretty soon every street will have cars, every household a telephone, every pocket a smart one. What will telepresence mean to you in time?
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A quick note from author & holographer Paul Duffy
Thanks again for taking the time to read the first few pages of Act I, Chapter One - Present Company, Human Ubiquity.
It's incredible to see the technologies forming around AI, AR and the numerous tools spilling into the market enabling creators of all skill levels to rapidly design, create, destroy (haha!) and then improve and rebuild to deliver the perfect hologram.
For every human being looking to port themselves holographically, there are hundreds and thousands who will directly benefit from their telepresence.
Examples abound, but consider the crucial business negotiation which affects whole communities or a medical procedure relying on ultra-rare skill sets. An educational opportunity lifting others from poverty or the entertainment experience long thought impossible.
Yes, holographically speaking, its only a matter of time before that thin air we all walk through every day will soon be enriched with holographic habits.
~ Paul Duffy, June 2023