Hey, where did the women go? I mean we've got guys admiting left and right that we're pretty loathsome and can't wait to misuse this technology. With all the chics on this site not one finds any of this worth responding too? WTF?

Oooh. Aaah.

It's a big, round, cool thing.

You know how it is ... Guys respond to imagery, chicks to direct experience.

They are all quietly, coolly figuring out how to use this to their advantage.:p

Like I said earlier before the Dave and LoveBugz show, I don't see why you all think this is cool.

It is a way of looking and maybe hearing some people, who happen to be a long way away, in public, most likely strangers.

If it was loved ones, long-separated or whatever, maybe it would be an improvement over the phone or video conferencing but otherwise, what's the big deal.

People-watching of a bunch of strangers is easily available in any city on the globe. There are plenty of tit-almost viewing opportunities to be had without the aid of technology. What is so damned neat about being able to see people (who aren't a hell of a lot different then those all around you now) through a looking glass?

Project will get buy in on the Austrian side if this thing plays re-runs of Knight-Rider and Baywatch because Austrians love David Hasslehoff .. (That sounds not enirely right, eh?)

Because, it effectively removes the number one reason for cultural differences: distance. Given enough of these things, the cultural changes throughout the world would be HUGE.

Not cool, indeed. Are you insane? :)

Who wants to homogenize the world with all this cultural change anyway? And no I don't think it is cool (or at least not a big improvement over existing communication technology) and no I don't think it is a substitute for being and living in a culture different than your own. A teleporter, now that would be cool but a fancy window - nope.

Your descriptions sounds a lot like another innovative idea the world latched onto not too long ago... the World Wide Web. Your criticism sounds very similar to those who viewed the Internet as a fad... a waste of time. And here you are using it, right now. If having conversations with far-off strangers really was no better than talking with the people around you, none of us would ever have heard of "Beletseri." But there is value in communicating with strangers... they add variety and unique insights.

I think it's a neat idea... partially for what it is, but also for what it is moving towards... long distance natural communication. An adapted version of this in one's home, perhaps covering an entire wall, could bring friends together who had long ago gone separate ways.... much better than a phone, and not as clunky or impersonal as a videophone. It would also double as a kick-ass TV at 10 feet tall.

But, you don't have to think it's cool. You hold the minority view, and there's nothing wrong with that.

That raises the practical issue again (and I'm a practical kind of guy). Yeah, this oversized mirror is great, but I think if they want to people to eventually adopt it for personal use, it's not being presented that way. Too much of something to gawk at. The practical uses will be overshadowed by perverted fucks jerking off for an equally sick crowd of onlookers in Botswania.

If you do it the other way around - try to do something practical that ends up being something attractive - there's more curiosity and perceived value from a total blunder. Look in last week's Newsweek - there's a short clip about a Japanese scientist who created flourescent fish by injecting dye so he could see the organs better. They're selling like sponge bob in the US.

I don't think it is like the web at all. One of the good things about the web that isn't true about this thing is that people with interests in common tend to find each other. Another thing that is neat about the web is that it is a non-visual media. You don't instantly make judgements about a person by how they look. One more thing about the web that is different is that it isn't real time for the most part. That is a strength. It waits for you to come see it but doesn't impose it's own time on you like this thing would. That is why I like email instead of telephones. It waits till I'm ready to read it. It doesn't ring in the middle of my dinner.

In fact, I think the web is the actual opposite of this thing. Looking cool is not enough to make a sea change in the way we exist in the world. This thing may look cool but it is a glorified video conference device.

btw As a scientist I used the web back before it was the web exactly for what it was first intended for - data sharing and communication in not real time. Also, you may be underestimating the importance that browsers played in the development of the web-as-we-know it. Prior to browsers you actually only got to what you were looking for.

There are potentially some cool entertainment applications. A new sort of jumbotron in town. just as digital possibilities continues to tweek filmmaking, this could tweek movie presentation- real or partiallly real time stories, participatory, in the round....real time drama of sports, politics- The dramatic trip down your own colon. Theaters, dance, concerts could jump on this visual presentation in cool ways- odd collaborations, different relationships with audiences. Tholos projection shape could change- not the cylinder but another form more subtle, or more engulfing, or mobile? Of course public artists and advertisers would be all over it too. And a new theme restaurant is always in the works. I think its cool to imagine the current tholos visuals-a space where the environment presented is in sharp contrast to the hosting, surrounding real environment- Its potential to just create an interesting place to be. Grass is always greener an all that.

I think you're on to something, Warch. A resturant you could go to every week and look out on a different exotic local in real time. This week from the top of the Eye-full Tower and next week a tropical island.:)

I really think that people are just going to be working out ways in which to have sex in front of the things ...

Any of you PA/NJ folks hear about the couple having sex in the woods last Sunday?

They were drunk and were having sex in the woods when six men on ATVs find them. Despite them watching, the couple continues their business and puts on a show. After 10 or 15 minutes, the six men call the cops, who report, watch for 5 minutes, and then arrest them for public indecency and disorderly conduct. What a fuckin shame.