Suspension of Disbelief

While we were traveling the conventional way .ed, with the silly little curious mind of his, came up with an interesting stream of thought. The primary question was how has the notion of travel changed in the brave new world with so many gadgets and technologies available for simulation and all the other various ways of enhancing experiences.

One can take videos, photographs, create blogs, keep notes, have conversations etc. These are possibilities within the current spectrum of technologies available. Though I guess we will eventually make it possible to satiate all the five senses when creating simulations and probably one might even have experiential travel tours of places.

So, can we eradicate the difference between this exploration into the virtual city and the notion of real travel involving actually walking through the city, watching the life around it with your own eyes? Or given that you have a camera that walks around on your instructions through any city and one gadget for each of your senses so that you can hear the clamor of the streets, smell the fragrances around, taste the food and speak to anyone you like… would you think that this is the same as traveling with your physical presence in that place?

My answer to that question was quite vague, though it mostly revolved around the fact that until you don’t create a memory of the travel, in terms of the experience of reaching that city, exploring it and then experiencing the sadness of leaving all its beauty to get back to your own mundane life… the notion of travel is not complete.

.ed thinks that it’s perfectly possible to break the notion of the necessity of physical presence for the experience of being in a city or a place. Given the right kind of gadgets one can simulate the experience with a much more holistic perspective. The underlying argument being in terms of the example that while you are dreaming, you feel that the experience is true and that you are physically present in whatever place you believe yourself to be in.

I went around talking to other people.

Shiv thinks that probably it might be true for the new generation, but for oldies like him… he would like to feel his feet hurt while walking the streets of a city. The sense of being tired is essential for travel. Also, one has to experience a certain sense of anxiety and excitement of being in a new place. In fact, the first thing that you do after you has reached a new place is to find a good enough place to pee. So, you might end up paying a good amount of money on a bad coffee just to find a good place to pee. Other than that the sheer excitement of seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar city would prove to be a far better experience than any virtual simulation.

Bini thinks the substitution of the imaginary for the real is a notion that works for the new generation. In fact, you need to travel the entire expanse of 16 kms of Manhattan to know the city of New York (something like that… the figures might be incorrect… but you get the idea!) So you may use smileys while chatting to express emotions and other person might picture you as angry or sad, but still the experience of having a conversation over a cup of coffee is entirely different. You can’t compare the two.

Tony equates the idea of the notion of suspension of disbelief ergo the title of the past. He believes the virtual and the real are two parallel streams that meet in the realm of suspension of disbelief. Though he initially started of with the comment that I would like to feel tired when I have traveled, without that feeling, the notion of travel is not complete. But later he chose to look at it in terms of watching a film and said that despite everything while you are watching a film that you are interested in… you would share the same space as the actors and live out the script before you come back to reality. It should be the same for travel.

(Shiv, Bini and Tony are fellow collaborators whose opinions would be recounted in many posts of this blog. They are the necessary support system for this blog.)

Primary Ideas/Ideals:

Theme – Travel
The question?
Opinions