I recently read the book Breaking Open The Head by Daniel Pinchbeck on a recommendation and was very intrigued by the connection of the internet to shamanistic ideas.

One particular passage talks about the Burning Man festival which takes place in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada at the end of August.

“The rapid growth of the festival and it’s flawless self-organizing structure are direct products of the Internet. Among the attendants at Burning Man can be found a tremendous brain trust of scientists and technicians, Silicon Valley Engineers and CEOs… Briefly escaping corporate jobs or university labs, they find release in flaunting their tools before a live and jubilant audience. “Black Rock City shows it’s possible to create a society based on play,” said Russel Wilcox.

In reading that so many internet associated people attend such events, one can see how and why the idea of the online social network was born. The ideals of current online social networks are found and inspired through these real-world settings. Life imitating art imitating life to a point. Can the online space replace the human connection of a face-to-face conversation? Probably not. But that’s where the challenge lies in gaining a connection where LOL and emoticons truly emote.

As the real world and these events foster “mind altering” and “mind expanding” through a variety of methods and, yes, substances, the online space is a prime inducer of opening the mind. Granted, watching too many YouTube videos has the opposite effect, but as a whole the internet is many people’s drug of choice through its vast landscape of content. I doubt the military saw the internet having this effect to such a social level.

Social networking takes us to these alternate realities. It lets users take on any persona they wish. It let’s people connect with those familiar and close to them as well as complete strangers. It’s an out-of-body experience. These crossovers from the physical space into the online space is where Web 3.0 is being born. Content generation with social interaction that explore connections in an alternate plane.

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