
One of the qualities of the metahuman is the ability we have to be bigger than ourselves.
The super connected now have the ability to gather together any information they quest for from any number of resources. Those of us who navigate the flow can pull literally any trade out of our collective butts and make comments – whether useful or not – on just about anything with no more than thirty seconds and a mobile phone. An example of this? Earlier tonight, I helped @socialnerdia on Twitter with a question about computers. I happen to know a few just-above-entry-level facts about the differences between 32- and 64-bit computers, so I shared.
Shared. Didn’t sell. That’s not how I roll.
This is one of the reasons I love the proclivity of these networks. Tools like Buzzom let me rake in people at random, my process with Twitter itself lets me weed out the useless ones, and applications like TweetDeck then let me help out wherever I can, whenever I have the four seconds it took me to write a response – and then I can share it with you because Bettween exists. The entire process took less time than getting up for something to drink, but suddenly I feel like it’s all worth it.
Just like writing here. Finding examples like this keep me writing. Sharing what we know is a big deal – we may not all want to be educators, but everyone likes an opportunity to teach now and then. It helps to be an interesting person because, after all, the trick of the universally interesting is to be universally interested.
I would never have had the opportunity to do half of what I do if I weren’t well on my way to outgrowing my skin. Pay attention to what you’re doing online, specifically because chances are you could be doing something better with your time.
You don’t have to be one dimensional,in fact you’ll suffer if you are, but you do have to be about something. Me? I’m about connections. Not just networks and groups, I see links between everything. It helps being an animist, of course, but it’s not necessary. However, because I’m aware of this trait of mine, I foster it, apply it to everything I do, and try to make the most of my primary talent as a specialty in a world where generalisation is necessary.
Have you figured out your angle on life yet? Better still, are you making use of it in a generous fashion?