Real versus virtual, the twain shall never meet
And now I’ve heard everything or so my aging ears think. The other day, my son’s friend got married, virtually. Corona might have changed the entire world but it couldn’t change the couple’s resolve to unite on the auspicious date. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions, invitees were stuck at home. Fortunately, the bride and groom were together at theirs!
The punditji conducted the pheras and the parents showered their blessings online. A smart phone balanced on a planter broadcast the event to friends and relatives, who sat decked up for the occasion. Technically, they were married by technology!
Can the virtual be our new reality? An old friend enquired, a few days later, as we were casually discussing the sequel of social distancing. The thought lingered much after the call ended. Virtual means something in essence or effect, but not actually or in fact. Technology strives to blur this line and make virtual experiences more real. Coronavirus just sped up the process, hurtling us 50 years ahead.
The change is visible everywhere. With an increasing acceptance of online shopping and e-commerce, the last decade has witnessed a change in the way we spend money. The pandemic has altered the way we earn it. As health professionals, more of us are practicing telemedicine and giving online consultations. Companies have realised that working from home through videoconferencing is more cost-effective. Teaching institutes have redefined distance education and are coming up with new ideas to keep students engaged.
It has reshaped the way we learn. Professionals have been participating in webinars and have accepted this new reality of scientific gatherings. Apart from this, master classes on skills from exotic cooking to creative writing, piano playing to painting, dress making to dancing, all are available at the click of a button. With reduced work hours and few social engagements, time is no longer a problem. Anyone inclined can nurture a new hobby or rekindle an old one.
We have discovered new ways to recoup and play. So meeting up friends on group chat, playing online games with distant close ones and watching televised versions of plays and recitals are modern day realities, as is visiting museums and art galleries. With leisure travel being risk ridden, people are indulging in armchair tourism, virtually roaming the streets of far-off lands.
The big question is when an unprecedented pandemic disengages us from the real world should we wait for things to go back to where they were or should we move ahead and accept the new normal? How much further are we willing to go? Most importantly, does the virtual measure up to the real?
The truth is no matter how accurately technology reproduces the physical experience, the human touch will be missed. Telemedicine lacks the eye contact and reassuring pat, a virtual classroom minus pranks and giggles isn’t as much fun, a webinar doesn’t allow joyous bear hugs and backslaps and a virtual city tour without the sounds and smells isn’t the same.
Can the best crafted simulation free fall, with blasts of air and sound effects replace the thrill of jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet? It can’t because a scared, hammering heart and faltering uncertain mind were integral to my skydiving adventure. It is virtually impossible to create the real.
NO MATTER HOW ACCURATELY TECHNOLOGY REPRODUCES THE PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE, THE HUMAN TOUCH WILL BE MISSED