Executive summary
Throughout human history, the way we communicate has constantly evolved – from cave paintings and spoken language to the written word, telephone, and internet. Each advancement has transformed how we connect, share ideas, and build relationships. Now, we stand at the brink of several revolutionary changes at once, as emerging technologies like AI, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), and holograms promise to fundamentally transform human communication yet again.
- Several companies have developed BCIs that allow us to control devices with our minds and may one day enable telepathic communication.
- California-based startup REMspace claims to have achieved two-way communication between two people in dreams.
- “Yesterday, communicating in dreams seemed like science fiction. Tomorrow, it will be so common that we won’t be able to imagine our lives without this technology,” says Michael Raduga, founder and CEO of REMspace.
- Holographic technology has evolved from simple, static displays to life-sized 3D projections that make it seem as if the person were actually in the room with us.
- Researchers have shown that AI can create digital replicas of people’s personalities, matching their values, tastes, and behaviours with 85% accuracy.
- “If you can have a bunch of small ‘yous’ running around and actually making the decisions that you would have made – that, I think, is ultimately the future,” says Joon Sung Park, a PhD student in computer science from Standford.
The coming decades will likely see these technologies move from laboratories into everyday life, fundamentally changing how humans connect and interact. In this new world, sharing thoughts could become as natural as speaking, and holographic calls as common as video calls are today. But how do we harness these powerful new capabilities without losing touch with what makes us human?
Communication is the cornerstone of human civilization, enabling us to share knowledge, build relationships, and propel our species forward. Throughout history, humans have shown extraordinary ingenuity in bridging distances through communication. Ancient civilizations used smoke signals, drum beats, and carrier pigeons to transmit messages across vast territories. The invention of the telegraph in the 19th century marked humanity’s first step into instantaneous long-distance communication, revolutionising how information travelled. The telephone soon followed, bringing human voices across continents, while radio and television transformed communication into a mass medium, broadcasting content to millions simultaneously.
The world we live in today is characterised by an unprecedented degree of connectivity. The internet has dissolved geographic boundaries, allowing us to share thoughts, images, and experiences with anyone, anywhere, instantly. A message sent from New York to Tokyo arrives at its destination before the sender’s finger even leaves the screen. Video calls have made face-to-face conversations possible across oceans, while social media platforms have created global communities united by shared interests rather than physical proximity. Yet this may be just the beginning. As humanity continues its relentless advance, we can expect to see breakthroughs in communication technology that would have seemed like science fiction just years ago. This won’t just dramatically alter how we receive information, but how we experience and interact with the world and each other.
“Yesterday, communicating in dreams seemed like science fiction. Tomorrow, it will be so common that we won’t be able to imagine our lives without this technology.”
Michael Raduga, founder and CEO of REMspace
Tech-powered telepathy
Brain-computer interfaces have already made it possible for paralysed individuals to control devices with their minds. Could communication via thoughts be next?
Have you ever wished you could simply transmit your thoughts directly to another person’s mind? No more struggling to find the right words, no more misunderstandings, just pure, unfiltered communication – thought to thought, mind to mind. If that were possible, you would be able to share memories with loved ones as vividly as if they had experienced them themselves. Or, imagine you could understand someone speaking a foreign language just by receiving their thoughts. While we’re still far away from achieving this level of neural communication, scientists are making remarkable progress in developing the foundational technologies that could one day make it feasible.
Around the world, research laboratories and tech companies are now exploring brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) – devices that can read and interpret the brain’s electrical signals. These systems typically use arrays of microscopic electrodes to detect neural activity patterns and translate them into digital information that can then be used to control digital devices. One of the companies leading the charge in this field is Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which began its first human clinical trials in 2024, successfully implanting their device in several patients.
While these initial trials focus primarily on helping paralysed individuals control devices through thought alone, they represent an important step toward more advanced forms of neural communication. Early results have been promising, with the patients demonstrating the ability to execute some basic tasks like moving cursors and typing using only the power of their minds.
A dream come true
Another promising development in BCI technology comes from California-based neurotech startup REMspace, which recently announced that it had successfully achieved two-way communication between people in dreams. As part of the experiment, two individuals were placed into a lucid dream state, a state in which the person is aware they are dreaming and can exercise some degree of control over what happens. Each person wore a proprietary device on their head that enabled the company to monitor their condition remotely and interact with them.
As the first person entered a lucid dream, the computer would generate a random word and transmit it to them via earbuds. The person would then repeat the word in their sleep, and their response would be recorded and stored by the computer. When it detected that the second person had entered the lucid dream, the computer would transmit the first person’s response to them. Once they woke up, the second person would then repeat the word they received in their sleep – often the right one, according to the company.
REMspace has since repeated the experiment with two more individuals and plans to go even further in the future, the ultimate goal being real-time communication in dreams. “Yesterday, communicating in dreams seemed like science fiction. Tomorrow, it will be so common that we won’t be able to imagine our lives without this technology,” says Michael Raduga, founder and CEO of REMspace. It’s worth noting that the results haven’t been verified by the scientific community yet and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. If proven true, though, it could indicate that the idea of communication via thoughts may not be as far-fetched as it appears now and could open up a new era of human-to-human communication.
The rise of holograms
While current holographic technology still pales in comparison to science fiction, recent advancements in AI and 5G technologies are bringing the future one step closer to reality.
While direct thought transmission is still probably years – or even decades – away from reality, another technology is already poised to have an enormous impact on the way we communicate: holograms. Holograms are created through the precise manipulation of light waves, producing the illusion of solid objects in physical space. Since their invention in the 1940s, they have evolved from simple static displays to increasingly sophisticated projections. But while holographic technology has made remarkable strides, current implementations still fall short of the seamless, interactive experiences we see in movies and television.
Most holograms we see today, including Tupac’s ‘performance’ at Coachella in 2012 and other appearances by deceased artists, aren’t ‘true’ holograms at all. They rely on an updated version of a 19th-century illusion called Pepper’s Ghost, which uses carefully angled transparent screens to reflect two-dimensional projections. While visually striking, these are pre-recorded displays that can’t interact with their environment or respond in real time. True holographic communication – which would enable you to interact with life-sized, three-dimensional representations of people in real time – presents a far greater technical challenge.
To create and transmit a live, moving hologram requires capturing enormous amounts of data about a person’s appearance and movements, processing that data instantly, transmitting it at lightning speed, and projecting it in perfect detail at the other end. Until recently, these demands made it all but impossible outside of specialised research facilities. However, the emergence of 5G networks and artificial intelligence is beginning to break down these barriers. 5G now provides the necessary bandwidth and low latency for transmitting complex 3D data in real time, while AI algorithms can compress and decompress this information more efficiently than ever before, or even predict and fill out the missing data where necessary. Combined with advances in light field display technology and spatial computing, these developments suggest that practical holographic communication may be closer than we think.
Your holographic doctor will see you now
Some organisations have already taken the first steps towards realising holograms in real-world use cases. In June 2024, Crescent Regional Hospital in Texas announced a new partnership with digital firm Holoconnects with the aim of enabling patients to schedule remote consultations with a life-sized, 3D hologram of their doctor. To make this possible, the hospital installed one of the company’s Holobox devices at its Lancaster facility. Over two metres tall and weighing approximately 200 kilograms, the box-shaped device is equipped with a screen displaying a hyperrealistic live video of a person, making it seem as if they were actually in the room. While the device will initially mostly be used for pre- and post-operative visits, the hospital plans to eventually expand the service to traditional appointments as well.
According to Raji Kumar, chief executive of Crescent Regional, hologram visits will enable doctors to utilise their time more efficiently and provide patients with an improved level of care. “Teleporting our doctors in real time to connect and speak with our patients from any location as a life-size hologram gives our patients access to the healthcare they deserve”, she says. “It also saves our doctors one of their most precious resources – time – enabling them to see as many patients as possible.” The hospital also announced that it will install several smaller Holobox displays at some of its associated clinics, making it easier for patients in remote and rural areas to schedule specialist consultations, significantly reducing wait times and improving access to quality medical care.
Are holograms the future of communication?
Unsurprisingly, holographic technology has also attracted the attention of telecommunications companies. Leading European telecom operators Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone recently joined forces with spatial computing firm Matsuko to develop a new platform that will enable users to engage in immersive holographic meetings and collaborate with one another remotely.
To join a holographic session, a user first needs to capture a 2D video of themselves using their smartphone’s selfie camera. The footage is then uploaded onto the cloud, where it is processed through a 3D rendering engine and translated into a three-dimensional hologram of the person. Finally, the holographic image is streamed to viewers in an AR/VR/MR environment, resulting in smooth and natural movement that contributes to the realism and immersiveness of the experience.
One of the most impressive things about this new holographic experience is that it doesn’t require the use of an expensive VR headset. Instead, holograms can be experienced on a device you probably already have – your smartphone. “We are in an exciting phase where new technologies are emerging and with them new possibilities,” says Sven von Aschwege, XR & Metaverse innovation lead at Deutsche Telekom. “Making phone calls as if the person I’m talking to is standing in front of me is one such dream that is now moving closer to reality.”
“If you can have a bunch of small ‘yous’ running around and actually making the decisions that you would have made – that, I think, is ultimately the future.”
Joon Sung Park, a PhD student in computer science from Standford
Human identity in the digital age
As technology continues to exert more and more influence over various aspects of our lives, we may soon cede control of our communications to machines as well.
The machines that surround us are quietly becoming mediators of our daily lives. They manage our schedules, curate our entertainment, guide our purchases, and govern our social connections. As AI continues to advance, technology’s influence over our lives may soon even extend to our conversations and relationships. In the future, each person may be represented by a virtual identity that will serve as our gateway to the world.
These wouldn’t be simple avatars or chatbots, but sophisticated digital entities capable of understanding and emulating our personalities, communication styles, and decision-making patterns. Trained on our data and behaviours, these virtual proxies could interact with the world on our behalf, handling everything from routine communications to complex negotiations. They could interact with service providers, make reservations, schedule appointments, and negotiate with other virtual identities representing different individuals or organisations.
This could fundamentally transform how we approach social interactions. Direct person-to-person interaction would no longer be a necessity but a conscious choice. Rather than feeling obligated to personally handle every conversation or meeting, we could choose which interactions warrant our direct participation. Need to have a difficult conversation with a colleague? Your virtual identity could handle the initial discussion and provide you with a detailed summary. Want to negotiate a contract? Your digital proxy could handle the back-and-forth, only involving you for final approval.
A digital replica
At this point, you’re probably thinking that there’s no way an AI could come even remotely close to emulating your complex, wonderful personality, right? Well, you might want to think again. In November 2024, a team of researchers from Stanford University and Google DeepMind demonstrated that it’s now possible for an AI to create a digital replica of someone’s personality that accurately captures their values, preferences, and behaviour from a relatively short conversation. The study included more than 1,000 participants of varying ages, genders, races, and educational backgrounds, each of whom was required to complete a two-hour interview with an AI model, followed by a series of personality tests, social surveys, and logic games.
Based on their responses, the researchers created agent replicas of each individual, which were then tasked with undergoing the same tests as their human counterparts. The results were nothing short of astonishing – an 85% match between humans and digital replicas. According to Joon Sung Park, a PhD student in computer science from Standford who led the study, AI models that could replicate human behaviour with such accuracy would enable researchers in social sciences and other fields to conduct studies that they couldn’t perform on human subjects due to costs or ethical issues. But it’s also easy to see how such models could come in handy in everyday life as well. “If you can have a bunch of small ‘yous’ running around and actually making the decisions that you would have made – that, I think, is ultimately the future,” says Joon.
Similarly, Zoom’s chief executive Eric Yuan recently announced that his company is working on developing digital twin technology that would enable people to create digital clones of themselves that would attend meetings on their behalf, respond to emails, or handle any other work-related activities that may otherwise take up a bunch of their time. “Why not spend more time with your family?” asks Yuan. “Why not focus on some more creative things, […] giving back to the community and society to help others, right?” He admits that the technology is still in very early stages, though, and that it might be five or six years before it’s ready to go live. While Yuan expects that AI will eventually be able to handle about 90% of the work, he doesn’t believe it will ever fully replace in-person interaction.
Learnings
So what’s the big takeaway here? Are we about to enter a new era of human communication, where we can transmit our thoughts directly to another mind, interact with lifelike holograms, or have AI versions of ourselves handle routine interactions? The answer seems to be a qualified yes – though perhaps not quite as dramatically or as quickly as some tech enthusiasts might suggest.
The technologies we’ve explored here aren’t just about making communication faster or more convenient. They represent something far more profound: the potential to transcend the fundamental limitations that have shaped human interaction since our species began. The gap between thought and expression, the constraints of physical presence, the boundaries of consciousness itself – all these ancient barriers are beginning to look less impermeable than we once assumed.
We’re moving toward a world where we’ll have unprecedented control over how, when, and in what form we connect with others. The challenge ahead will be in finding a way to use these tools thoughtfully, making sure that they deepen rather than diminish our human connections. In the end, the goal isn’t to replace human interaction but to expand its possibilities. As we embrace these new technologies, we must remember that they are means to an end: bringing people closer together, fostering understanding, and enriching the human experience.
