Sporting with my brother eight thousand miles away

In a Friday evening in 2030, Chenglian was reminded that it was about time to play squash with his brother again. Chenglian’s brother lives in China and he has invited Chenglian to play squash with him every Friday evening. Chenglian lived in a small apartment in Toronto downtown core. Standing in the middle of his living room, he put on his glass and saw his brother was in the squash room and waving to him. They greeted to each other first and started talking about some new innovation ideas Chenglian’s brother has been thinking about in the past few days. Chenglian then picked up his new squash racket, a new product by InnoSport INC, and threw a 3D visual copy to his brother. Chenglian’s brother pulled the 3D copy of the racket over and took a 360 degree look. Chenglian recommended to his brother that this new model from InnoSport delivered the best simulation during the play. The feedbacks of the angle and resistance produced by the racket feels just like real. Chenglian’s brother was impressed and agreed to order one as well.

 

After that, they started playing. Chenglian moved left and right, forward and backward, and swung his racket, smashing the ball like he used to do in the gym many years ago. They could see each other’s moves and the direction of the virtual squash ball, and hear the noise of their shoes sliding on the floor. The virtual referee made announcements whenever one of them scored. After five minutes, Chenglian started sweating and breathing heavily. The referee announced that Chenglian had burned 125 calories and his brother had burned 135. They took a break and laughed together as it was still far from their goals. Chenglian and his brother enjoyed the time playing squash together not only because they could burn calories, but also because they could see each other and share news periodically – even though they lived 8000 miles apart.