One of the well-recognized benefits of science and technology is that they reduce distance across both space and time. Science looks back in time toward the origins of the cosmos and provides information about microscopic phenomena and distant planets. Technologies of transportation and communication reduce the significance of distance limitations on human travel and personal interaction, making globalization a commonplace experience. But while celebrating the ways in which science and technology bring the far near, some thought must also be given to the ways science and technology can make the near far.

The social critic Ivan Illich (1973) was among the first to note some cultural and political implications of distance reversal. The automobile, for instance, brings the suburbs within a daily commuting distance of the central city, while simultaneously placing a living interaction with the city itself outside the bounds of a simple stroll. Illich argued that automobiles...