21 February 2014

An idea: The Transatlantic Cable

Back in the day, the transatlantic cable from Europe to America was a
wondrous thing, sending humble Morse code between the continents.

Today we are more connected than ever with the internets, and yet
differences remain. How is that cultures touch each other and mix and
merge? Through constant contact?

Instead of twitter, and email, and even skype, what if we had a window from
one city to another, a window that never closed? The C-span of
transatlantic communication.

A live video feed 24/7/365 from say London to New York. Of course, it
wouldn't literally be a single cable from London to New York, but you could
even build it and arrange it that way to create the mental illusion; the
screen in NY would face west, and the screen in London would face east, so
that people in each place would literally be facing each other from half a
world away.

While these screens should be publicly accessible, I think it would handy if
they weren't 100% outdoors, to protect them (and the people using them) from
the elements. Kind of like TV and radio studios on the ground floors of
buildings that let you see out the windows as the film a show.

Just a thought.