The relationship between "place" and "people" enabled by multiple "realities."

Even when physically apart, skillfully using technology can make us feel closer than ever before. A slight shift in perspective can create entirely new connections. The new lifestyle emerging in the wake of COVID-19 could be called "Remote Connection Life" (Remote Connection Life). Remote Connection Life is Remote Communication Life, and it also creates Remote Comfortable Life. This series explores the "future vision" of this lifestyle—staying connected while physically apart—through conversations between magazine editors and Dentsu Inc. creators.
For the fifth installment, we spoke with Michiaki Matsushima, Editor-in-Chief of WIRED.

<Table of Contents>
▼ [Remote Connection Life Story #05: New Ways to Enjoy Online Festivals]
▼ The Keyword: "MIRROR WORLD"
▼ A single "space" becomes accessible for experiences worldwide
▼ Reality is no longer singular
▼ New business models emerging from the digitization of "places"
▼ The 2020s mark the "dawn of the internet"

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【Remote Life Story #05: New Ways to Enjoy Online Festivals】

(Case of Mei Kawabata / IT Startup Employee / Age 28)

With the spread of remote work, many people have experienced that work and meetings once thought only possible in "downtown offices" can actually be done from home. This could also mean that "downtown offices" have lost their advantage as physical locations. Editor-in-Chief Matsushima suggests that as society continues to digitize, "all 'places' will lose their uniqueness and advantages, becoming commoditized."

Based on Editor-in-Chief Matsushima's insights, what kind of world might emerge as the commoditization of "places" advances? What new businesses could be born? We've compiled a brief story exploring these questions.

Tomohiro Nozawa (Dentsu Inc. 1CRP Bureau)

Illustration: Taro Uryu

"They're holding it online this year..." The moment Mei saw the news about the music festival she attended every year, she immediately called Megumi. Megumi was her best friend since high school, and they'd enjoyed this festival together for ten years, sweating it out. "Well, can't be helped," Megumi said, not sounding particularly disappointed. "At least they're holding it at all."

Last year, with concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it was only natural that a festival drawing tens of thousands was canceled. This year, infections had subsided considerably, and music events were starting to happen again. Mei had naively hoped this festival would go ahead, perhaps scaled down. But an online event? No way... The thought of not experiencing that exhilarating feeling of getting hyped up with tens of thousands of people again this year made her mood sink.

"Actually..." Megumi said brightly, trying to cheer up the still-muttering Mei, "I'm thinking of buying the festival franchise rights and throwing a party with everyone back home. Wanna come?" Megumi runs a cafe with her musician husband in a small town facing the Seto Inland Sea, Mei's hometown. She'd become fairly well-known locally for regularly hosting live shows featuring local artists and running a cafe that attracted music lovers. Apparently, even well-known artists who played gigs in Hiroshima or Okayama would stop by.

"I figured it'd be more fun watching together than alone at home," she explained. The plan was to gather about 30 local music friends at a campground on a deserted island to enjoy the festival live. Kind of like a public viewing for soccer, she added. The campground already hosted local musicians' live shows and events like camping while watching movies, so blasting loud music apparently didn't bother nearby residents. Of course, they couldn't charge admission, so participants split the campground fees and equipment costs. Even so, it was considerably more affordable than attending the festival in person. "I'm absolutely, absolutely, absolutely going!" Mei declared emphatically.

On the day of the festival, the sky over the deserted island was perfectly clear. Music blasted from the huge speakers set up at the campground. On the outdoor stage within the screen, artists performed while tens of thousands of avatars, synthesized into the audience, created huge waves of movement. "Festivals are all about moving your body, right?" Megumi shouted to Mei.

Around Mei, about twenty young people were moving their bodies, drenched in sweat. The campground was much larger than expected, allowing for ample social distancing. "This is seriously the best!" Mei said to Megumi, who was swaying her body intensely. While the exhilaration felt amidst the frenzy of tens of thousands was undeniably thrilling, this wasn't bad either. The intimacy of everyone being familiar faces helped the sense of unity in the venue grow steadily.

"Ah, I don't want this to end..." The feeling she'd carried for the past decade welled up inside Mei. The emotions of the avatars on the screen matched her own real feelings in a strangely perfect way. As the sun set and the performance by the big-name overseas artist ended, the online festival concluded. Yet, the campground's energy showed no sign of fading.

Sensing this mood, Megumi's husband slung his acoustic guitar over his shoulder and shouted to the crowd. "Can I throw in a song too?!" "Yeeah!" "Of course!" "Go for it!" The campground's energy surged even higher. While the frenzy of tens of thousands gathering in one place is great, it's also fascinating how these smaller, local frenzies are happening all over Japan. Maybe there are people who wanted to come here but couldn't because of work. Mei strongly wished they could stream this online for those people. Then, shouting at Megumi, who was still moving her body drenched in sweat, she yelled, "Online might be the best!"

(This story is fictional. It bears no relation to any real persons or organizations.)

The keyword is "MIRROR WORLD"

Please be sure to check out the interview with WIRED Editor-in-Chief Michiaki Matsushima, which served as inspiration for the "Remote Life Story" mentioned above.

WIRED Editor-in-Chief Ryoaki Matsushima, who kindly agreed to a remote interview (bottom row: members of Dentsu Inc.'s 'Remote Control Life' team)

Last year, WIRED published a feature on the theme "MIRROR WORLD." It's a worldview where everything, including the Earth itself, becomes digitized, creating an overlap between the "physical Earth" and the "digitized Earth." I thought the 2020s would see the world gradually progressing toward this Mirror World, but COVID-19 seems to have accelerated it dramatically. Meetings and drinking parties moved to Zoom, while meditation and yoga sessions connected people worldwide online. What can and can't be conveyed online? How can we foster greater intimacy even in virtual spaces? It feels like a grand experiment is underway among people across the globe.

A single "space" becomes accessible for experience worldwide

If we transition to a "Mirror World" where all physical objects on Earth become digitized, the concept of "place" will rapidly become commoditized. In other words, any location will lose its "individuality," becoming indistinguishable from any other place. Let me explain it simply (laugh). With the advent of the internet, information previously confined to books became digitized, accessible to people worldwide.

The advent of social media digitized information about who is friends with whom, making human relationships visible. As the Mirror World advances, all other physical things will be digitized too, making everything in the world instantly searchable. In other words, even "places" – things that were originally immovable and could only be experienced by going there – become accessible to everyone worldwide the moment they are digitized.

For example, if we 3D scan the entire Kinkaku-ji Temple and recreate the experience from the garden to stepping inside the temple in virtual reality, people worldwide who would never have visited Japan in their lifetime can now "experience" being there. They might even choose their preferred season or enjoy it privately. While not a real-life experience, it opens doors to people who would have never had this opportunity before. In that sense, I believe we'll see a sudden commoditization of "places."

Reality (Reality) will no longer be singular.

Just as we have AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), and MR (Mixed Reality), reality itself will become RR (Real Reality), just one among multiple "realities." Going to Real Reality will simply be one choice among many for us. For example, you might see a stunning sunset on a beach on Instagram and think it's incredibly beautiful, but when you actually go there, you often feel like, "Hmm, it's not quite as good as it looked on Instagram" (laughs). Even at tourist spots around the world, when you actually visit, you might notice the signs are too prominent, and you start to realize that "real = not that beautiful." I think we're starting to see a trend where people choose a different reality because it's more beautiful and comfortable than the real one.

Think about it: classical music was fundamentally meant to be heard live, and only royalty and nobility could experience it that way. Then, about 150 years ago, records were invented, and you could listen to it on a phonograph. To people who believed that only live music was real music, that must have seemed like crap (laugh).
But now, people get moved listening to records, and no one says, "This isn't real music." I think the same thing will happen with the concept of "place" going forward.

New Business Models Born from the Digitization of "Space"

There's a saying that "information wants to be free," but it actually goes hand in hand with the idea that "information at the right time with the right content wants to be expensive." Information about "places" will surely split into two categories within media: information that becomes free and information that becomes expensive due to its scarcity. How we sort this and turn it into business models will define the next decade, I think.

Perhaps we'll see the emergence of businesses that connect spaces in a way similar to how DJs are currently the musicians earning the most. For instance, franchising a festival held in the American desert to different regions worldwide, with each region organizing it online. I feel new ways to enjoy experiences will continuously emerge based on how we design the flow between physical and virtual spaces.

The 2020s: The Dawn of the Internet

Looking back from 2030, it might seem like, "The internet started as a service in the 90s, but nothing really happened until 2020." What happens in the world after everything is digitized and connected? I believe the true essence of the internet, where everyone truly begins to experience it, lies ahead. In such an era, WIRED's mission is to find a kind of appropriate relationship between humans and technology.

The key word here is "non-binary." Simply put, it's an attitude of "not dividing everything into two." The digital world constructs reality with 0s and 1s, but the world of quantum theory is one where something can be "both 0 and 1." I firmly believe that the ability to interpret things non-binary—to cross over between both worlds without thinking in binary oppositions like "online is this, real is that" or "digital is this, physical is that"—will become increasingly important going forward. Doing so expands every possibility and is where the innovation we seek will emerge. Truly.

From the Remote Control Life Team Members

Here are the keywords for enjoying Remote Control Life more, gleaned from Editor-in-Chief Matsushima's talk.

◉ "Local Praise, Local Consumption" – Praising and supporting local shops through social media
◉ "MIRROR WORLD"
◉ Commoditization of "spaces"
◉ Secondary creation of "places"
◉ Pluralization of reality
◉ Comrades in Arms 2.0
◉ Neo-Romanticism
◉ The Dawn of the Internet Era Until the 2020s
◉ Non-Binary
◉ The Age of Uncertainty

How will the novel coronavirus change our lifestyles? We aim to predict the future by focusing on the subtle shifts in daily life and the subtle changes in people's hearts that have blended into their routines, and to create new value. This series explores that potential through the lens of "Remote Control Life."