For now, the telematic embrace has no arms (or legs or body) and this is a serious hindrance. But the telematic embrace is growing and spreading beyond its traditional dataspaces and with that breakthrough (breakdown) will come the entirely new opportunities for wonder and disruption.

If we are going to ponder a telematic embrace, it may not serve us well to spend too much time looking to the digital art or net.art of the 90s. It is still breaking free from its roots in previous art movements, responding to technological situations which are already history.

The telematic octopus has already begun to reach into our lives with the arrival of smart homes. The VCR, the set-top box, the wireless/connected PDA, the cell phone, are all computers which extend our thoughts and invade our senses. Ibots and instant messaging are beginning to serve as semi-autonomous fragments/agents of our consciousness. The best smart house will be a quiet house with both a physical reality and a virtual telematic presence. It will (hopefully) protect and serve our emotions and desires and values (even as e-marketers strive to copy, decode and influence us); it will monitor our health, tracking the nature of our chemistry in our blood, breath, and wastes.

What then is the ground of this discussion? Is the telematic a foundation we can all speak from?

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– Kevin Teixeira