With the channel capacity expansion of the communication system, the cost of transmitting a bit of a message will fall at a rapid rate. Types of communication requiring higher baud (bits per second), for example, video, will gradually become more commonplace. Technological advances may decrease the cost of transportation, but not nearly as much as technological advances will decrease the cost of communication. Thus, one would expect a substitution of communication for travel. Modern society is organized around the automobile. Most people live within a 20 minute commute from work. This means the auto transportation system is built to handle the peak morning and evening traffic loads. During the rest of the day, the system has considerable wasted idle capacity. Moreover, autos are one of the principal sources of pollution. In areas such as Denver and LA where inversion layers are common, social costs, health problems in the respiratory system, are also incurred. Also, communication requires much less energy than transportation. For these reasons, society would be better off with less commuting.
Prior to the first industrial revolution, most people worked out of their homes. In industries such as cloth manufacturing, the merchant took raw wool to farmers' cottages to be spun into thread. Then the merchant picked up the thread and took it to the weavers cottage to be woven into cloth. The merchant then took the cloth to another cottage to be dyed. Work was brought to the home. Artisans generally had their homes attached to their shops. The custom of commuting to work began very recently. As automation of manufacturing proceeds, work will increasingly involve the manipulation of informational objects. As the manipulation takes place through a terminal, the substitution of communication for travel depends on how effective groups can be at accomplishing tasks through communication networks.