Talking about communication on this deeper level is inseparable from talking about spirituality. Once we know that life is a web in which we are all enmeshed, we discover an obligation to become as conscious as we dare of what we are sending, then accept responsibility for modulating the signal if it sounds like static or noise. The infrastructure will disappear through habitual use and become background noise, just as our hardwired language-making brains have become the presupposition of human conversation. The connection itself is experienced in silence, but we seem compelled to express it, telling stories, storing memories in clusters designed to remind us of the deeper possibilities of life when we have slipped back into the routine slumber that we call our lives. Islands in the Clickstream is a weekly column written by Richard Thieme exploring social and cultural dimensions of computer technology.
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Feel free to pass along columns for personal use, retaining this signature file. Richard Thieme is a professional speaker, consultant, and writer focused on the impact of computer technology on individuals and organizations. All rights reserved.