Dear reader, what you are about to experience in the future of coworking adventures is (as will soon be made evident) a work of fiction. Any resemblance to pre-existing people or technologies, real or imagined, can be chalked up to a failure of imagination on the author’s part. Sorry about that.
Sitting in the community meeting room, Dave stared cautiously at the folder, as if it might contain a bomb. After a moment of awkward silence, he finally opened it. Inside were diagrams and notes which, Dave assumed, were from Harold’s work on the subject. Good. All the market research in the world was useless if they couldn’t actually deliver. As he leafed through pages of scientific jargon and equations he wouldn’t understand if he had a week to study them, he stumbled upon a much simpler passage: a short list of names.
“And what’s this, Harold?” Dave asked, setting the rest aside for a moment.
“The best and the brightest,” came Harold’s reply. “If I am to work on this ‘true VR’ project in any regard beyond developing theory, I will need a team. I can think of no better configuration than this.”
“Certainly, certainly.” Dave stared at the list. Many of them, mercifully, were already coworking members of The Lodge, and Dave considered it a simple matter to convince them to join the project. The others, however, Dave did not know. He could only hope they were available, willing to join up, and not currently held in a penitentiary or involved in a cult. Harold Reiner was always the eccentric of the coworking community, and tended towards keeping odd company. Barring Dave himself, of course. “I’ll see what I can do. I take it you are in then? The project can continue to the practical stage?”
“Yes, I do think so. I daresay we’ve struck gold on this, Dave. If we can make this work, there shall be no need at all for the clumsy virtual reality technologies of the past.”
“Which of course,” said Dave, “would give us a great deal of the market share.” Dave knew business. Harold, in spite of his aesthetics skewing to the old-fashioned, knew technology very well. The pair, in true coworking fashion, intended to do great things together. Though mundane virtual reality had long since been cracked, the first to produce a full five-sense, complete-immersion VR system could make billions. Even split among the whole team, it would be enough for any sane man to be able to retire on.
The rest of the meeting was rather short, concerned largely with covering the finer details of setting up the project from a business standpoint. Contracts would need to be drafted; LLCs would need to be constructed. To that end, both men shook hands one last time, cleaned up their meeting room, and returned to their shared workspaces on the second floor. On the way to his desk, Harold Reiner stopped by the coffee machine. The machine consisted of a chrome cylinder, marked with red stripes and the word “Ericson” embossed in black down the side find here. Harold moved his hand across the touchscreen at the machine’s base, and a cup was dispensed (and the coffee soon after it).
As he took his cup back to his desk, Harold could not help but think of how this new technology might change the nature of coworking, and communication in general. Virtual reality technologies already in existence allowed for the illusion of being in the room with someone across the world, yes, this newer technology would make it nigh-impossible to tell the difference between virtual and real (assuming his theories and calculations were all correct). Why meet a man in person at all, really, if you have the option to meet him under the sea or on the moon through the wonders of technology? Even, indeed, if you were already in the same room with the person in question. The thought troubled Harold, though he could not quite place his finger on why. After all, at a certain level there’s no real difference between virtual experiences and physical ones. And regardless, he had reached his workspace by this point, and had work to do. Introspection can always wait until later.
Jacob Rosenberg is our resident blogger and story teller. Become a member of Sprout to experience your own coworking adventures. Start by booking a tour.
