Collaboration

Collaboration is something we all do, daily, whether it is in a learning environment, in the work place, or simply being a member of society.  What I found to be the most profound ideas in Rheingold was not the idea of how much we collaborate on a daily basis, I think that is fairly well understood, but rather collaboration in terms of human evolution.  I will honestly say I was taken aback by this notion that human evolution should be looked at through the eyes of collaboration rather than the survival of the fittest manner in which I have always viewed evolution.  The idea that the human brain correlates directly with how we are social seems as though it could be questionable, then it is followed up by the fact that as humans we can work in groups of up to around 148 people, which is roughly the size of a military unit.  It may be that is it simply chance or it could be that the US Military finds credibility in this idea or that they in fact found the same to be true independent or new studies and theories.  I also enjoyed the fact that gossiping was the first form of language... I think it justifies my long conversations with my girlfriends since it has always been that way.  =)