[coldtea]

I don't think replacing direct connection / presence with remote viewing / tele-presence is "progress".

Those two are different things. We could say that one is not better than the other, it depends on the use case.

But one can also say that we're wired evolutionary for the direct presence, and the other case is a 10-30 years affair that we're rushing into often when it's not really needed (like now with COVID) but just because it's new (or because other things, like ticket prices or free time, are fucked up).