"'Most participation in our programs is remote.
"Most
preparation in most things was, Kenmuir thought dully. Eidophone,
telepresence, multiceiver, vivifer, quivira, how much occasion did they
leave anybody to go any real distance from home?" (p. 358)
That
is happening. Groups who met physically before lockdown but on zoom
during lockdown are continuing to meet on zoom because the meetings are
bigger. Also, a speaker can remain in Glasgow instead of traveling by
train to Lancaster and either staying overnight or catching the last
train back.
A vivifer or dreambox can draw on millions of preprogrammed virtual realities whereas a quivira cooperates with the cybercosm to create a new one. I remembered the difference but not which was which. (In Poul Anderson's A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, "zmayi" and "ychani" are respectively the Serbian and Eriau terms for Merseians living on Dennitza. Linguistic complexities confer verisimilitude.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I sympathize with Kenmuir's distaste! However useful or convenient zooming or its futuristic equivalents might be, they simply can't replace the SATISFACTORINESS of people being actually present with one another. I recall how Kossara Vymezal stated in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS how the Dennitzan parliament refused to "meet" by similar means because its members desired the intimacies and nuances of meeting in person for their debates.
Ad astra! Sean
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