ID scifi story about telepresence touch?
December 13, 2014 8:29 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking to ID a scifi short story that was posted online, probably within the last 5 years, about a couple getting a black-market telepresence system implanted in their skin. When one of them touched their own skin, the other one would feel it.

They had to get the system implanted across a number of surgeries. At one point they were about to get their hands operated on, and the back-alley surgeon was warning them that while he was one of the best at this operation, it was still very risky and that their hands might be damaged.

One of the people in the couple was frequently away on business travel which motivated their decision. I think there may have been a scene near the beginning where they are on a video call of some sort, before they start the operations.

I only read half of the story and it seems to be very hard to Google unfortunately, but I seem to remember it being an interesting take on intimacy and technology. Thanks!
posted by savagerose to Media & Arts (6 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
That rings a bell. Is it in that big compilation of stories that Tor.com published online last year?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 9:33 AM on December 14, 2014


This rings a bell for me too--a story that reminded me of Ted Chiang but wasn't. I thought it was an FPP or something but going through the past couple of years I don't see anything that jogs my memory.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 9:42 AM on December 14, 2014


Best answer: I think I found it. Collision Detection, by Tim Maughan. First published in Futures Exchange (2013), edited by Frank Swain, and republished in the 2014 Campbellian Anthology, which I think was FPP'd on metafilter.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 10:06 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Seconding it being Collision Detection. (I remembered it being linked at Medium, so there's a live version of it)
posted by CrystalDave at 10:21 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Yep, it was FPP'd here. Bonus: links in the comments about dark enlightenment/neoreactionaries.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 1:48 PM on December 14, 2014


Response by poster: That's it! You all are excellent. :)
posted by savagerose at 7:54 PM on January 13, 2015


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