There are technologies today , for example teleconference rooms, which probably capture most verbal and non-verbal feedbackin meetings, to the points participants claim it's like being there.
It would be interesting to do an experiment:isolate someone for a period of time, but let him have full contact with family and friends via the best electronic means we have , and measure the impact of his mood and well-being.
Even the full-presence suites don't quite work once you start going over any distance. The lag is just enough that the bit of your brain that processes NVCs gets a little out of sync with your thoughts.
According to cisco design guidelines[1] , 150 msec is acceptable network latency(not including video encoding/decoding). Also [2] talks about 300 msec total latency about the limits for remote surgeries.
Even if we take 150 as our guiding figure, if we assume direct fiber optic connection between sites, the maximum distance would be 45000 kilometers, which can basically connect any 2 points on earth.
So theoretically at least, it's possible. Achieving good latencies in real life is much harder though :)
It's funny, because, while I'm not extremely isolated, I have lived through periods of my life when all my family was abroad (I stayed in Uruguay, most emigrated, others studied abroad), and I have few local friends.
No amount of telephone calls, chats, Facebook or Skyping can compare to in-person interaction. I have a photo of a recent Christmas, with 3 screens with Skype calls to family in Canada and Europe on each screen, and while it helps to "be" there more than just a phone call, it's still nowhere near the same.
It is of course anecdotal, but that was my experience.
I didn't have a full-wall videoscreen with HD, maybe for a limited environment like a meeting it can be a very reasonable simulation... but at least in Latin countries like mine, "real" negotiations and bonding/trust building occur over a shared meal or other shared experiences, which cannot be currently simulated.
Going back to the original topic: business air travel isn't dying soon.
Maybe some inmersive 3-d environment will finally kill it (and we'll see Second Life as an innovation before its time, much like the Apple Newton?)
But skype does miss eye-contact and picture of half body (to get all hand movements which are important) , and the illusion of being in the same room created by telepresence , and probably had worse latency , and probably other factors i'm not aware of.
And we know from the "uncanny valley" that humans are very very sensitive to little things in human/human communication.
So it might just be that telepresence offers a altogether different quality of experience.
And regarding the topic - currently , maybe business air travel isn't dying(thought in 2009 there was a lot of talk about disruption from telepresence). But assuming we'll find the formula for remote face to face communications, and assuming there's enough bandwidth, the pace of change could be rapid(unless people will keep sticking with tradition, which might be the thing now that slows the process).
Anyway, i would be really interested to see major deployment of telepresence quality systems deployed in homes, and how that would affect culture.
It would be interesting to do an experiment:isolate someone for a period of time, but let him have full contact with family and friends via the best electronic means we have , and measure the impact of his mood and well-being.