The author is “ranting” about some people’s expectation of how our designs in the future looks like. He believes that the “Picture under Glass” interface, like those on our phones and TVs and computers, is nothing but a transitional phase to a more interactive and “sensory” designs in the future.
I have mixed feelings about the author’s opinion. He points out that we should not limit our interaction to only with our fingertips and the sensation we get from interacting with real life objects give us way more information than a touch screen. We are already so used to screens and we all know what to do when we interact with phones or computers. In addition, touchscreens are very versatile. However, I do enjoy the sensation of flipping a page when I read, or holding a “gun” when I play shooting games and not to mention I REALLY miss writing Chinese with a pen rather than a keyboard. Anyway, I will be very excited if interaction with interfaces of any kind resembles interaction with real objects in the future.