Now that almost every consumer screen available is HD or beyond, the issue of typography having to abide by the pixel count is no longer a thing. We can accurately recreate letterforms on a screen as well as we could on paper, though the experience is not yet the same.
Physical type is reactive and responsive to the environment where it is. It reacts to ambient light, it shines or glows, it's metallic or dull, it glistens, or it feels of something. It responds to the light of the room it's placed in, and you can move it closer or farther to scale it.
Type of the future could be responsive in a similar way to physical type, and in fact it could go even further.
Type in future interfaces has two potential outcomes (which could and should exist simultaneously) - either it follows the route it's taking now, where the objective is for the type to be a means to an end, a simple, highly legible piece of information designed not to get in the way; OR, it could be a highly reactive, physical piece of design. It could utilise ambient light sensors to detect the brightness and colour of the light in the room and act accordingly, giving an experience similar to that of printed type on paper, or it could be animated or simulated in way that reflects a metallic or textured appearance. It could be manipulated, resized or destroyed and the user's will. The distance from the viewer to the screen could influence the size of the type (as done here: http://webdesign.maratz.com/lab/responsivetypography/), or it could reform and recolour itself based on the brightness of the screen.
Whilst some type for certain just doesn't work on screens, there's nothing stopping us from bringing some of the positive experiences of physical type to the digital arena.
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