HOLOPORTATION - A physical-virtual reality?

AR - Holoportation

Holoportation our future reality?

Since time immemorial, human interactions have always been physical, within arms reach.  Fast forward  to 1887 as conventional history suggests, Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone! It was miracle to hear someone's voice hundreds of kilometers away. In the late 1970s and early 80's researchers worked on "the network of networks.' The idea was to facilitate communication between two or more computers, "Inter-networking" hence remodeled to what we now know as the Internet. A score of years down the line social media connectivity is booming! Despite having this instant form of sharing moments and connecting to our loved ones  in real time, there is still a void, a craving for physical contact.

Holoportation is an end-to-end audio visual virtual augmented reality tele-presence system that exploits the use of 3D technology capture and algorithms to reconstruct and render remote spaces (people, objects) in real time. Some say its 'moving without moving.'

This form of technology presents itself as a solution to some of the global challenges such as;

Global warming - The use of transport (flights, trains and vehicles to meet up) contributes a great deal to carbon emissions. Holoportation will become a viable alternative of meeting face to face. It is more advanced than the conventional high end audio and video conferencing forms of telecommunications.

Health Care Consultation - The use of hologram technology for doctors or medical experts can consult on patients via physical observation remotely. 

Customer Service - A real estate investor in London can view property in Botswana in 3D real time without spending on flight travel and still get an akin experience of what it could have been if he was there physically. Tourism industry could use this viewing solution for clients who want to see game without leaving their homestead.

Holoportation's tele-presence co-physical element of a face to face communication retains the human element of appreciating facial expressions, body language, eye and physical contact. There is a Setswana saying that "mafoko a matlhong" which attest to this form of soacialisng as opposed to online text-based or distant audio communications.

Just like any other technological advancement project, it costs an arm and a leg to set up the hardware and appendages necessary for a full experience of this virtual reality transference.

If holoportation manifests into our lives, we will inhabit virtual spaces or rather this lucid dreams-capes, if you like, without leaving our very homes and offices. Could this be the viable attempt at creating a platform for physical interactions over cyberspace? Only time will tell..