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Comment by DisruptiveDave | Hacker News Reader

> Telecom technology has matured enough to make personal presence unnecessary

Holy moly that's sad if anyone actually believes this.

For business purposes, I believe it. I've been working remotely for a long time. Sure, it is easier to do some things in person. But not impossible to do remotely, and it saves everyone time and money, so it is worth learning to hold even large, long meetings remotely.

Now, for seeing family, travel makes sense. You can't hug your grandmother from 2000 miles away.

Face-to-face business meetings really should be obsolete by now. It's difficult to imagine a more inefficient business process, especially for sales, where the outcome might be simply nothing.

Nevertheless, the salespeople who show up in person tend to have an advantage in getting the business. It's a nightmare with real consequences.

I actually believe this, could you maybe expand on for what interactions you think personal presence is still necessary and adds real value?

* Any kind of actual personal interactions. I'm not going to kiss my wife over VC, or hug my dad, or be at my cousins birthday.

* Any kind of deeply nuanced conversation. Telepresence is great for the day-to-day stuff, but not if you actually need to be closely aware of the other person's emotional state.

* Anything intended to foster closer bonds. That's much harder to do over telepresence than in person. That's a basic functions of how social animals work.

Telepresence is great for the vast majority of mundane connections. But it's not at the point where it can completely replace travel. I wish it could, because I'd love to travel less.

the visceral human experience brought about by the complex interaction of each sense combining together. For example when when you're standing on a cliff overlooking the majestic ocean, eyes absorbing the light as it reflects off the water and the sky, listening to the waves as they crash against the rocks, smelling the distinct salty coastal essence, and observing the cool wind flowing about your limbs. This complex interaction is soothing and cathartic, and leaves an imprint on the soul.

Hrm, I had read the start of the thread a bit differently and assumed more within the realm of business... I do absolutely agree that vacation travel is worth it, but I'm less convinced that a sales dude who flies from city to city every other day is actually needed and can't be replaced with telepresence.

Every. Single. One.

There is not a single interaction in which in-person-ness doesn't add value.

Necessary is a different ball game though. That wasn't my beef. My beef is with anyone truly believing that physicality holds no value.

Seeing family or friends and like, you know, maybe something like doing stuff together?

Seeing your grandmother. Hugging your nephew. Enjoying a trip with close friends. Firing an executive. Laying off people.

Many, many sales people would say... sales.

Is sales worth it? It's a huge drain on productivity already since the most effective sales techniques revolve around annoying people until they buy something to shut you up, why should we let this market segment continue if it's got even more externalities associated with it?

This is mostly cultural no?

We've done an excellent job of moving away from basic animal instincts thus far, what exactly determines what cultural behaviours can and cannot be changed by technology?

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