"There are huge benefits. Global commerce is supercharged. Instead of commuting, people can spend more time with family and friends. Pollution is way down. The AGI company runs a sweet commercial of people teleporting to see their parents one last time before they die. At the same time, some weird things start happening. The landscape starts reconfiguring around the new reality. Families move to remote cabins, just seconds away from urban amenities. The summit of Mt. Everest becomes crowded with influencers."
"But the biggest change is the loss of serendipity. When you teleport, you decide in advance where you're headed. You never run into an old friend on the street, or stop at a farmstand by the side of the road, or see a store you might want to stop into someday. To modern teenagers, the idea of wandering out without an exact destination in mind becomes unthinkable. You start with the GPS coordinates, and then you just... go."
The Auto Go Instant teleporter enables instant travel, initially expensive and unreliable but eventually mass-market. Global commerce accelerates and commuting collapses, allowing more time with family and reducing pollution. Landscapes and settlements reconfigure; people relocate to remote homes minutes from urban amenities and famous sites become crowded with influencers. Physical activity declines as walking and biking lose appeal. Transitional, in-between moments vanish, reducing opportunities to mentally reset between contexts. Serendipitous encounters and unplanned discoveries decline because travel requires specifying a destination in advance. Younger generations normalize destination-first travel, changing social habits and the structure of everyday movement.
Read at Geoffreylitt
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