Hey Fellow Sci-Fi Nerds,
As I mentioned in a previous post about flying cars, I’m working on a sci-fi novel, building my world and keeping my fingers crossed. I thought it would be fun to bring you in and discuss sci fi ideas, topics, technology, various ideas that will help me as I navigate the terrain.
Today, let’s talk video phones. This isn’t a sci-fi stereotype that’s hypothetical. Video phones are here! They’ve been here awhile!
And sadly, they’re about as popular as a turd in the proverbial punchbowl.
As a kid, I remember watching Sci-Fi films and thinking, “What if someone gets a video phone call and they’re not wearing any pants?”
Thus, I proved to be a prophet as I grasped the issue early – no one is wearing any pants.
Seriously! Be honest! How many of you are wearing pants right now?! Show of hands! Be honest!
We have the power to call someone up and look straight at them, but we never use it. Why? Because people just want to sit around their homes sans pants and don’t feel like putting them on just to make a call.
Forget about pants. Maybe people are too self-concious. Maybe they don’t want someone looking at their face, seeing all their zits, being watched and judged for eating a bowl of ice cream whilst being on the phone.
Maybe it’s easier to call up and yell at the cable repairman for not coming between the window of 8 to 7 if you don’t have to stare at his face.
For whatever reason, video communication is here, and it is rarely being used. I have no one who wants to talk to me by video, and I can’t blame people, because my face is hideous and would probably break their phones.
For me, the 1982 film Blade Runner comes to mind when it comes to this topic. In that film, it is anticipated that in 2019, Harrison Ford will sit down at a video pay phone, where another woman takes a seat at her video phone booth, and they have a formal chat looking at one another through their screens. In reality, the pay phone concept, video or otherwise, is long dead, and that woman would probably just want to talk on an audio call, because she’s at home, and probably pantsless. Maybe not. She was kind of classy.
So as the title of this post suggests, let’s talk Sci-Fi. I guess it would be lame to have characters in a book using video phones. No one uses them today and I doubt anyone will be more pro-pants wearing just to take a phone call in the future.
One thing I see in Sci-Fi flicks is holograms. They look cool, but personally, if I’m not putting on pants to take calls, I’m not putting them on to be reproduced as a hologram.
I think far into the distant future, people will still be making audio calls only. What do you think?
And even if I think that, should my characters use hologram communication because, what the hell, holograms are awesome?
Bookshelf Battle 
I think in the future, people will think things and it will appear on social media, through neuro links and app sync. This is not dissimilar to today where all manner of banal shite appears regularly. So people will know you are concerned about your lack of pant wearing at exactly the same time as you.
I hope not. Everything you think ending up on social media? Yikes! Everyone probably thinks of crazy stuff from time to time, but it’s your personal filter that separates thoughts from action that decides the type of person you are.
As for banal stuff…yeah we don’t need more outlets for people to say, “I ate a cupcake today” or “Hey here’s 5 pictures of my dinner!”
I’d be inclined to think that there will be so many different ways of communicating that people will use whatever’s most convenient, or appeals, at any given moment. But the video calls will likely be digitally edited on the fly to remove zits. And possibly add pants…
Photoshopped video calls. We can all look like models.
Ya, sure, no pants. Lame. Not everybody is like you.
Why I don’t use video call? Because it’s too expensive, needs a really good network (not everywhere in the world available) and lots of people (still!) don’t have good phones to receive and sent video images. I hardly send mmses, because not many people can receive them properly.
I mean “no pants” can be code for whatever physical flaw or defect is bugging a person. True, video calls have room for improvement, but even when perfect, I don’t think they will be used all that much, largely because people just don’t want to be on camera and in most cases, figure that audio is enough.
That’s my take on it anyway.
If I’m (hypothetically) wearing pajama pants, does that count?
I think the video part could be optional, so I can turn it off if I don’t want people seeing me eating ice cream. Instead, maybe I could put up an avatar of myself, or just a pretty landscape for people to watch during the call.
I hate talking on the phone anyway, so I’m pretty sure us introverts will keep some kind of messaging (IM, texting) alive into the future.
They have video avatars now, but again, you might as well just make an audio call instead of making yourself look like an alien.
I can definitely imagine people using avatars, so they can both wear pants and appear on screen. Although, maybe pants will become irrelevant in the future, eliminating the pants/video call problem completely! 🙂