Telepresence and building strong networks

The use of telepresence technology has been increasing ever since the first two people were able to communicate in real time over a telephone. Since then we have seen the rise of television for visual feedback, text communication for written real time interaction and even virtual reality. The latest round of interactivity is taking it to the next level with robotic avatars actually available to allow full interaction with the real world and other people in the remote location with which one is communicating. This amazing situation allows effective meetings and direct contact with people across continents in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

Some of these formats of course are in regular use but Zero State and the Foundation. The current methods that are used for much of its interaction are web based and include email and steemit among others. Yet with the high level of technological solutions that this group seeks to emulate it would be remiss not to try and expand these functions to incorporate the latest technology for telepresence. The Transhuman House provides a particularly valuable opportunity to experiment and build on this since it is effectively a showcase for a variety of novel and innovative technologies. At the house there are already VR headsets which could be used if individuals on the other end also had more of them. Such a situation would start to bring members in disparate places closer together.

There has been discussion of hosting major events from time to time with local events happening at least in London, England and Provo, USA. While it would be unreasonable to expect people to be able to fly to any one destination if each major event were linked by immersive systems including VR and other avatar modes it would greatly enhance cohesion and sense of connection between participants. It would also substantially improve the value of the event and give it that much more of a futurist feel. This was certainly the case at the small convention event hosted in Provo last spring where the addition of a Microsoft Hololens added a much greater sense of amazing new technologies that were becoming more available. It also added substantially to the educational value of the event by providing access to try and experience technologies that would otherwise be out of reach for the majority of attendees.

In addition we need to get more conversations going with greater frequency. It is nice to listen to people speak and for some events having good speeches and ideas shared by individuals is great. However, it is desirable to come up with the best ideas and leverage community engagement for creative solutions. To do that regular live conversation is the ideal way. There are currently infrequent text chats but even something as simple as Skype is widely available and should not be overlooked for its advantages. Once a month scheduled interactions at as high a level as possible would help foster a stronger sense of community.

The current contest may help with this too since a few of the prizes are VR headsets which would help more participants get into the higher technology realms. This and other encouragements to members to take the next step and get into higher levels of connection are much encouraged especially as more reason and opportunity is given for their use. It is worth the effort and should be relatively easy to set up and run since it can be done virtually... anywhere.