Given enough bandwidth, even the warm sensation of touch might be simulated and perfected by machines – digital and otherwise. The current developments of the silicon and fiber optics industries should neither scare, embolden, or deceive us in regards to what applied mathematics can bring about in this world. Presence, just like collaboration or dissent, can be achieved by many different configurations of atoms and bits.
The friction of urban everyday life, in all its glory and discomfort, can also be picked apart and assimilated by software interfaces, turned into a series of discrete steps and connected operations. First communications and media, then work and commerce, transport and medicine, culture and violence. Each of these former continuous, noisy and entangled aspects of modern cities become their own virtual niche, adjacent and hyperlinked to everything else.
A microbial planet requires smooth, cold, efficient protocols. A thriving city requires sustainability, wealth, and the excitement of innovation. The human body demands more.