Estate Living Magazine Develop - Issue 44 August 2019 | Page 62

L I V E
S M A R T
DOUBLE
TROUBLE OR
TWICE AS NICE?
On Friday 5 July, South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was the first world leader to be in two places
at once. Is this the beginning of a bold new era in politics – and more?
While actual Cyril was speaking in northern Johannesburg,
Hologram Cyril appeared at the Rustenburg Civic Centre.
Appropriately, his keynote speech was for the 4th Industrial
Revolution SA – Digital Economy Summit.
Neat trick
For a state president or global entrepreneur, the ability to be in
more than one place at a time is quite a handy life hack and, right
now, they are the only ones who can afford the technology to
make it possible.
But the rapidly developing 5G-enabled phones will enable
double acts like Cyril’s. Vodaphone and Verizon have
already made hologram phone calls in real time, and every
communications company is in the 5G race. We are heading
for a future where everything is connected, cities are smart, our
appliances have conversations about us, 80% of the workforce
under 40 are in IT, and almost anyone with a 5G phone has the
ability to do what Cyril did.
On the upside
Holograms would be great for people who need to attend lots
of meetings, and don’t have the time to drive between them.
And there are some jobs that could easily be done by holograms
– think of hotel concierges, psychologists, teachers and sales
reps (although the original human would have to be working
somewhere at the same time). It would be great for complaints
desks, eliminating any possibility of physical violence, and it
would enable cops to direct traffic in the rain without getting
wet, getting run over, or having a cappuccino thrown at them.
Atul and Ajay Gupta, who are so afraid to enter South Africa,
can certainly afford to appear in court as their hologram selves.
But knowing the Gupta brothers, when found guilty, they would
probably want their holograms to do the jail time, so that does not
really work. On a more serious note, it could save a lot of money
in any court system if witnesses could testify without having to
travel to another town, country, or even continent as is the case
now. Come to think of it, having a physical lawyer in court is
almost so last year. A hologram would do the job perfectly, but
it would probably charge double. Traffic would be non-existent
as real, old-fashioned flesh-and-blood people no longer need to
leave the house very often – just send your hologram to wherever
you are supposed to be.