Blurred Lines: The False Dichotomy of Physical vs. Digital Spaces

Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

Recorded live at VISIONS Summit: NYC 2024, join Paul Canetti as he sits down with Reggie James and Ruby Thelot. We explore the concept of being "too online" and whether the dichotomy between digital and physical worlds is still relevant. Ruby and Reggie share their thoughts on the cultural shifts driven by our online presence, the importance of physical spaces, and the impact of digital status-seeking on our everyday lives. Listen now!

From Avatars to AI

Key takeaways:

• The line between digital and physical worlds is increasingly blurred. While there's a fascination with the physical realm, the digital world offers unparalleled opportunities for status and connection.
• The pursuit of online status can drive people to act differently in the physical world, often using public spaces as stages for digital content creation.
• As technology evolves, so do our cultural norms. The value of images and digital content is changing, prompting a re-evaluation of what we consider real or trustworthy.
• Looking ahead, there's potential for more personalized, artisanal digital experiences. This shift might move us away from mass-produced technology toward bespoke digital solutions.
• The future of software and digital experiences may lie in highly personalized, artisanal creations rather than scaled, mass-market solutions.
• [00:02:30] Reggie James: "We tend to hit these just accelerated, you know, Internet superhighway vibes mentally, and then you step outside and you realize, actually, the pace of this environment is significantly slower."
• [00:03:30] Ruby Thelot: "There is certainly this fascination that we now have for the physical realm. As soon as we're allowed to go online, suddenly we're like, oh, no, wait. It's gotta be analog or it's gotta be we wanna go back to the physical."
• [00:05:30] Reggie James: "Utilizing public space as a playground for digital status creates this weird, just using up of this previously shared social resource."
• [00:09:00] Ruby Thelot: "Once we are able to generate images that have the semblance of reality, the value socially of images erodes. We can think of it even in a judiciary context where we start to question the veracity of the images that are presented."
• [00:27:00] Paul Canetti: "It might be that when it's all said and done, there was this 50-ish year period of humanity where we spent a lot of effort creating these kinds of interfaces and these new ways to accomplish things. And then in the end, we'll come back to something that looks a lot like it did pre-computer.”

Associated Links:

Links & Resources:

• Ruby Thelot's new book on design and beauty theory
• Nathan Jurgenson's essay "The IRL Fetish"
• Eugene Wei's insights on online status optimization
• Martin Guerre (movie) featuring Gérard Depardieu
• Maggie Appleton's discussions on home-cooked software
• William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube‍
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print‍
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

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