More and more we depend on the combination of technology AND connection with other people to seamlessly exist in this mediated world. A breakdown of one or both (as in this case) can leave us stranded (sometimes literally).









Since October 1999, our world has become an even more connected place. For example, would Nicholas White, the man in the video, have had a cell phone in 2008? Likely yes. We live in a world of “On-Star”, Twitter, ubiquitous cell phones, and mobile uploads. Life has truly reverted back to a fundamental collaborative enterprise as we wrestle with technologic complexity.



I recently saw a book which addressed this idea in passing. On page 191 it reads “Each of us lives and works on a small part of the earth's surface, moves in a small circle, and of these acquaintances knows only a few intimately ... Inevitably our opinions cover a bigger space, a longer reach of time, a greater number of things, than we can directly observe. They have, therefore, to be pieced together out of what others have reported” Only eight years later, this small circle has become much larger.



Is it, contrary to a suggested human ability to have a maximum number of connections, that we are collapsing back to an human era of intense collaboration, social hierarchy, and lightning fast information transfer of our cave dwelling hunting/foraging ancestors? Maybe. Sounds and signals as ancient humans cooperated in hunting animals many times their individual size…a twitter like process?





Direction of wind, time of year, layout of terrain, location of animals within the herd, number and capabilities of hunting members…semantic association within the hunter’s mind (in addition to the fact that hunter is here, animals are there)?



What can we learn about how we will interact from where we have been and how we have reported it to each other? You-Tube, Video Jug...the new cave wall?