I'd say what we can do now with Zoom et. al. is bloody amazing from the 90s perspective. I dreamed of just a video phone. They started making them late 90s but both ends needed a special telephone line.
I vividly remember a shot TV segment about the House of the Future, which in addition to a lot of stuff we now call IoT or smart home, included, of course, a video phone.
This weird disconnect can happen in real life, too. During the pandemic, I needed to get physical therapy. For almost the entirety of that, we all needed to be masked so I never saw my PT's complete face.
The masking requirement was lifted a couple of weeks before my PT completed, and I saw her full face for the first time. I found it incredibly disconcerting because my mind had imagined what her full face looked like (without me being aware), and her actual appearance was very different from what I imagined.
To the best of my knowledge, scientists haven’t studied the disorienting feeling that occurs when digital expectations meet physical realities, but if / when they do, I think they should call it the Floating Head Phenomenon.
This happened to me. I got a new job just before the pandemic, so I did not meet many co-workers until well after. Everyone was taller or shorter, or even not recognizable when in person. Very strange.
I'd say what we can do now with Zoom et. al. is bloody amazing from the 90s perspective. I dreamed of just a video phone. They started making them late 90s but both ends needed a special telephone line.
I vividly remember a shot TV segment about the House of the Future, which in addition to a lot of stuff we now call IoT or smart home, included, of course, a video phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEsndb8cSn0
This weird disconnect can happen in real life, too. During the pandemic, I needed to get physical therapy. For almost the entirety of that, we all needed to be masked so I never saw my PT's complete face.
The masking requirement was lifted a couple of weeks before my PT completed, and I saw her full face for the first time. I found it incredibly disconcerting because my mind had imagined what her full face looked like (without me being aware), and her actual appearance was very different from what I imagined.
To the best of my knowledge, scientists haven’t studied the disorienting feeling that occurs when digital expectations meet physical realities, but if / when they do, I think they should call it the Floating Head Phenomenon.
This happened to me. I got a new job just before the pandemic, so I did not meet many co-workers until well after. Everyone was taller or shorter, or even not recognizable when in person. Very strange.