funny: I had thoughts along those lines seeing this wrapping-paper enhancement for the first time last year as well.

Good article.

I appreciate virtual communities, and reconnecting to old school friends from all over the world online, but I also yearn to connect more humanly and socially in real-time, real-flesh, with others. I wonder…

How are we changing our minds and bodies as we increasingly engage in virtual worlds, and less in the natural and human environment? I walk down the street and pass young folk who are constantly connected. Where is the time to just think and digest information cognitively? To acknowledge a person you don’t know, and glean information from and reflect on that interaction or quick glance?

How do humans manage their social anxieties differently in real-world contexts vs. virtual?

How do we bridge between these worlds? I notice that I often don’t acknowledge an email or Facebook social exchange with a friend when we’re in person. Maybe our bodies experience these two worlds in different parts of our brains.

Can we as developers facilitate interaction better with/between neighbors (hybrid community)? Why is that so hard?

Finally, I encourage you to check out this interview with Ray Kurzweil who suggests that we’ll be able to shut down our real-world senses and completely immerse ourselves in the virtual world with a bio-computer chip in our bodies by 2045: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/04/03/03 Apparently his predictions are very accurate.

I look forward to more of your work. Thanks again!