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NETPROPHET

Where are chat programs going?

Chat programs can be defined by their affect on the five "measurable" senses. Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste and Touch. Using these five senses one can easily categorize chat programs into different generations.

• 1st Generation; text based. Participants can have no real realtime sensory contact.
• 2nd Generation; Sound based. Participants can hear each others voice in realtime.
• 3rd Generation; Sight and Sound. Participants can hear and see each other realtime.
• 4th Generation; Add one sense (most likely touch). Participants can now interact physically in realtime.
• 5th Generation; Add another sense (most likely Taste or Smell). Participants can now perceive each other or interact using Taste or Smell.
• 6th Generation; Add the last "physical" sense. Participants can now interact with all five senses.
• 7th Generation; Does not yet exist in theory. This generation is based on the discovery and/or scientifical measurement of a new sense or skill, such as intuition or telepathy.

The first generation is already present and has been present for a long time in one form or another, though not necessarily in the form of a chat program, the easiest example is snail mail. It is also the most commonly used. Almost all chat programs of today, no matter what generation, have a text interface if nothing else as a backup.

The second generation is not unusual on the net today. Increasing bandwidth and connection speeds allow for the exchange of sound, be it prerecorded or live. Chat programs that are 2nd generation usually have the auditory function as an extra function, a side dish to the normal text.

The third generation is also present today, mainly in the form of video conferences. It is also present in all programs where a file-transfer is possible, since pictures of oneself may be transferred to the person one is talking to. It is questionable however if this really can be counted as third generation. One could postulate that the boundaries of third generation be that of live-feed pictures, be they still (updated every few seconds) or moving.

Fourth generation chat programs are today not available to the "normal" user. Fourth generation is however a field that already exists. Within industries such as the space industry tele control of robotic arms are making their first real plunges into the fourth generation. The question is if fourth generation should be defined by Touch or by the ability to affect objects in the physical universe. And if it is defined by the second, what happens to consequent generations?

If defined by the first, Touch, it is not improbable that the first general applications of a Fourth Generation Chat program would be within the sex industry, something which shouldn't be impossible albeit crude with present day technology.

Fifth Generation and Sixth Generation chat programs bare too much resemblance to each other that they will most likely appear at or around the same time. The big question is, do people really want to taste and smell the person they are talking to? Again the applications will most likely be something for the sex industry. On the other hand, if real smells can be duplicated, can't artificial? Maybe that picnic in the park with cream pie and soda pop isn't so far away after all.

The Seventh Generation relies on the discovery and scientific measurement of a sixth sense. To define what is a sense and what is not a sense is of course required. Is telepathy a sense, and if so, doesn't telepathy make chat programs redundant?