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Comment by Tepix | Hacker News Reader

We need (very) high fidelity virtual reality to save the planet, making traveling superfluous. I'm afraid we're still far away from that development.

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It's sad how travel, to most people, is just seeing things.

No wonder so many HN comments are grandstanding about how they dislike or don't need travel: they aren't talking about meeting other people or experiencing other cultures. They're just talking about weekend travel packages where they're shuttled around to take some pictures.

How incredibly boring.

Your VR idea like saying you've been to Prague because you spent extensive time in Google Maps street view: I wouldn't even bother.

Don't worry the AI will be very realistic; it will be better than interacting with locals.

Why /s? Could be even better, no language barrier, taxis programmed not to rip you off, every girl at the bar will want to go hime with you, and you get to cut all the lines.

For me, I find it difficult to make quick connections with people, so I'm unlikely to really "meet other people" in a brief week or two in another place. In this way, I find myself a true tourist in almost all places I visit, which is not so interesting.

At this point I'm most excited about travel where I know somebody who lives there and can make those connections for me.

I don't even think "seeing things" is why most millennial travel. They travel to show off that they are traveling on their instagram and facebook feeds. To that end, virtual reality might not even cut down on travel at all because it wouldn't give people the status/bragging rights to show off their glamorous lifestyles.

While I think millennials (that's like 30 years worth of people) do this, I don't think that's the only reason they travel, just an added perk.

I would not choose to live in such a world. It sounds like a dystopia, d’après The Matrix.

The main difference will be that, thanks to the direction our "tech" industry has been headed, "our" matrix will be projecting a constant stream of advertisements onto any natural wonder or monument you attempt to "visit".

"Half Dome -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY PEPSI"

In a virtual reality where you can zap any good you might like into existence, why would Pepsi need to exist?

Because here in real reality, humans still need to consume actual food and fluids to survive. Strapping a headset on and pretending to drink a virtual good won't sustain you.

You need something much less humble: A convincingly-looking instagram photo creator that fakes the city of your choice in the background. A ton of tourism is driven mainly by the lifestyle factor, and much less so from historian's curiosity

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