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The Evolution of Homo Digitaus

Feb 13, 2010 / Social Media / Trackback

Today I know that I am bold, rebellious and egocentric to perceive, understand and interpret the world in terms of meme, to introduce the definition of a new species to the world. This is who we have evolved to become.

Homo digitaus – n. The modern species of humans, evolved from extant Homo sapiens of the primate family Hominidae.

This species of Humans is hypersocial by nature, uniquely adept at utilizing digital systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. They create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families, friends, professions and communities to subcultures and nations.

Homo digitaus (HD) humans view their global duo-plane social interactions as multi-dimensional, threaded and seamless. The concept of time and reality of distance are diminished by HD humans, whose relationships are developed in real life (IRL) and via fast-paced digitally streamed, permanently footprinted viral social interactions, reflective of an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals. They perceive virtual relationships as real and important as physical ones and maintain a deeply seated psychological need for hyperconnectivity to their social networks.

HD humans base social stratification on influence or reach within social networks. Their innate marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics combined with a characteristic trait of competitiveness and desire for self-expression, has led to pervasive and compulsive tendencies to repetitively share discoveries of art, literature and music, and track the amount of times their contributions to the global virtual community have been forwarded by others.

HD humans, noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seek to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through technology, science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills, which are passed down culturally, virtually and virally as a result of cloud mentality, a genesis of the Homo sapien crowd mentality. When Humans socialize IRL they tend to rebuke previously traditional social gatherings and commune with assistive mobile technology used to communicate in the individual or group social setting, commonly a tweetup or unconference.

Humans are the only species known to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use technology – all at the same time.

My inspiration for this post came from reading Timothy Leary’s Chaos & Cyberculture – some minds are truly visionary and counterculture. Though they may reside in people who are misunderstood and lead troubled lives we should never discredit their thoughts.



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A fresh, interesting perspective. Wonderful. Love your writing and unique ability to articulate thoughts. I "Digg" it. :)

@EASTeam Kirk, thanks for visiting, reading and commenting. I "Digg" you too =)

I feeling the vibe of this post, and I love it. I am a proud HD, I embrace my technology. It would take a deft micro neurosurgeon to extricate the key board from my finger tips, and the blackberry from my ear. Many of my virtual friendships have turned into real-time ones. An example of this the unconference HRevolution. I heard about it on twitter. That's where I met my two room-mates who turned out to be wonderful friends, both on line or off. It's amazing how close I've become with my online friends. In addition I've formed meaningful professional alliances via cyberspace. The connections have led to opportunities, and a mutual exchange of knowledge, information and experiences that denote ways to do improve the workplace. I've attended conferences via twitter, ustream and even facebook. So, yes I'm into this post, and its larger message. it does take on mythical proportions. Four very dear friends met their husbands online. I know lots of people who found jobs online. And how many recruiters do we both know who've scoured social media sites to find candidates?On a personal level, when I come home after work, I like to cook dinner, and sit down at my computer and eat with all my friends on twitter. Social media is my business meeting, my conference, my friend network, and more. You make some several articulate, sociological points that are true on many levels.Well done Karla, well done!

@Margo I know there are many instances of lives that were changed for the better (and the worse for that matter) through our new digital freedom. Your experiences are positive ones that have enriched your life... as it should be =) Thanks for the visit and comment.

Karla- Very interesting topic to discuss. I think it can be too easy for many of us to get "swept away" in the social media world. I just need to unplug from it all at times. The lines become very blurry when "virtual" relationships develop. With endless ways to connect such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it just get's overwhelming. As an attendee at a recent meetup, I appreciated the opportunity to put a name to a face. Nothing replaces the human interaction, the handshake, and the conversations. I look forward in the coming months and years to meet as many people I can.. Some have made great first impressions with me virtually, and really want to connect in person.. I look forward to meeting you Karla, in the coming year as well. Much appreciation and continued friendship.

@Shennee I purposely wrote this in the neutral tone of a definition. It's interesting to see the reaction it provoked in you and I look forward to comments from others too. I would guess before the year is up we'll run into each other somewhere =)


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