*THE MENTAL ENVIRONMENT* and the tyranny of *THE NATURAL*

Frequently, when people mention authenticity it comes hand in hand with an underlying and all too often unchallenged (romanticist) assumption that only face-to-face experience can truly be authentic.

But why should we be required to have to share the same temporal and spatial co-ordinates as another person in order to experience or share something authentic with them?

To be human is to be neurodiverse; I believe passionately in the importance of cognitive liberty.

What best suits some people doesn't best suit everybody. And different experiences (including different mediated experiences) will give varying degrees of nourishment depending on each individual. And equally what might seem authentic or of value to one person may be entirely meaningless and empty to another also.

Variety and diversity is what's important, I reckon. And the more options we have to communicate and share with one another and learn about one another, the better.

The DAWN CHORUS

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said: "...people are communicating publicly. It is untrue that we are becoming more isolated because of these tools, I think we are connecting more and we are finding new ways to do good."

"A friend of mine asked me, 'what do you hope people will say about Twitter in five or 10 years?' and my answer to him, which I was surprised to hear myself say, was that I hope people will not consider Twitter a triumph of technology, instead that they will consider it a triumph of humanity."

"The idea that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. If people are more informed then they become more engaged and if they are more engaged then they can become more empathetic."