But the revolution lies in the realization that both office and home were always virtual. People today can and do collaborate in teams regardless of time differences or geographical disparities. Not only distance, but also time barriers are being gradually dismantled. The Berlin Wall of spatial and temporal separation is being torn down with a vengeance. One of the more important sub-trends in this forceful trend is evident in banking and finance.
Exchanges become more and more ephemeral and virtual the more computerized they are.
Physical pits and trading floors are a relic of a quickly subsiding past. Similarly, funds are transferred electronically in minutes. People carry plastic cards that symbolize wealth stored in electronic digits halfway across the world. Ours is a meta-symbolic system. We have taken to consuming and using more and more concentrated forms of symbolism.