Thinking about human communication in 2100 requires an uncomfortable exercise: if during the 21st century agents mediate more and more of our interactions (they translate, summarize, suggest responses, generate email, write presentations, converse on our behalf), what remains as specifically human communication at the end of the century? My position, after years working with systems that are already replacing growing layers of everyday professional communication, is that something remains and is worth more precisely because it is irreplaceable. In this article I try to map which forms of human communication are projected to survive until 2100, which new forms emerge, and why the question is not academic but strategic for any human who wants to understand what kind of presence to maintain in the coming century.
Chris Meniw (Thu,) studied this question.