I AM writing this on a flight bound for Amsterdam where I will connect to Nantes, France. I am a tad anxious because everyone is warning me what a mess travelling in Europe is these days – harrowing stories of delays in even Schiphol, in my book, one of the best airports in the world.
It seems if you don’t have to worry about one thing, another pops up. So perhaps I should take a leaf from the book of George Burns, who said, “If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.”
He lived till he was 100, so he must know what he was talking about, although he didn’t have to live through the past two years.
Anyway, taking my 20th flight since last November, things have definitely become easier, and those early flights fraught with anxiety over paperwork and failing tests seem like a bad, distant memory.
On this leg to Amsterdam, check-in was just like before –no one asked to see my vaccination certificate, recovery letter or insurance. I felt almost cheated because it’s all part of my travel paraphernalia these days.
The flight is absolutely full – travel from South-east Asia to Europe has taken off like a rocket ship, along with air fares – that’s another worry. I am seated behind a family with two hyperactive kids and this is when I wish I could summon my digital twin to take my place, so my real self can be teleported elsewhere.
But it seems like I will have to wait quite a while before my virtual doppelganger becomes a reality.
According to this article in BBC, we will have to wait till the end of the decade before we can have the first versions of thinking human digital twins – that means, a lifelike replica of yourself who lives a purely digital life.
I am thinking digital twins could well solve the manpower crunch that is currently plaguing the travel industry.
Said technology analyst Rob Enderle, “The emergence of these will need a huge amount of thought and ethical consideration, because a thinking replica of ourselves could be incredibly useful to employers.
“What happens if your company creates a digital twin of you, and says ‘hey, you’ve got this digital twin who we pay no salary to, so why are we still employing you?”
I don’t know about you but if I can send my digital twin to work while I play, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Digital twins of places are easier to create as we have seen and read about, with many companies jumping into the “metaverse”, the most loosely-used word of the current century, including billionaire hotel owners in Asia. These Asian tycoons who dominated and shaped hospitality real estate in the region are taking their first steps into virtual real estate.
Kwek Leng Beng’s Millennium Hotels and Resorts (Singapore) and the Lo family’s Regal Hotels Group in Hong Kong have purchased virtual properties in blockchain gaming platforms Decentraland and the Sandbox, according to this article in Forbes.
MSocial Decentraland: Photo credit: Millennium Hotels and Resorts
Millennium Hotels and Resorts is launching a hotel in Decentraland, a world where players can build, buy and sell in-game assets as they interact with others. The M Social Decentraland aims to become “a place for all to gather and discover the virtual reality universe”. Visitors will be able to interact with an avatar which guides them through the building, and will have the chance to win “real world hotel surprises”, said the hotel.
Regal Hotels Group, chaired by Lo Yuk Sui, is developing a “green metropolis” in the Sandbox, the metaverse platform owned by Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming giant Animoca Brands. MetaGreen, which aims to open by October, is looking to “promote eco-friendly choices and foster a sustainable community to support a circular economy,” Regal Hotels said in a statement.
The Regal metropolis: Photo credit: Regal Hotels Group
The metropolis will feature a convention center for conferences related to environment, social and governance (ESG) issues. It will also include a shopping mall in collaboration with Hang Seng Bank and other retail brands, an art gallery and an eco-farm, as well as an academy that partners with a Hong Kong university to promote sustainability.
Any of these developments take your fancy?
Anyway, I think I will send my digital twin to those two places, while I, well, I will stick to rediscovering Brittany, revisiting the ruins of old words and digging for clams in the sand. And oh, after that, I will head off for the vineyards of Loire Valley to rusticate. And no, digital twin, you’re not welcome.
