Lord, what fools these mortals be.

If you guys haven’t seen this, you should check it out.

It’s near and dear to my heart, as we–this curious box and I–share some common ground… loitering in front of the same ol’ cafe.

1369 Coffee Shop.

I almost walked into the Stranger Exchange, literally, on its first week outside 1369 Coffee Shop in Central Square (Cambridge, MA). Then I wrote it up for Work, as a kind of Freecycle/PostSecret lovechild, in the form of hyperlocal dropbox. The system is something like, “take a penny, leave a penny”–but with far more creativity, diversity, and personal value relayed than with the currency of… currency.

The box suggests one might leave (among other things):

Books, movies, old pictures, new pictures, report cards, post cards, love letters, rumors, business cards, questions, answers, origami, keys to nowhere, coupons, dirty looks, self-portraits, surprises, etc.

Rachel Botsman, who writes for shareable.net, interviewed the guys behind the Stranger Exchange, accumulating some fascinating material, interweaved into a larger discussion about peer-to-peer networks, and an emerging sentiment of “unexpected curiosity and respect” amongst “people you don’t know or are not even friends with.”

I liked this notion of “unexpected curiosity and respect,” because, as a Child of The Internet, it makes sense to me, intuitively. I explored the notion a bit more here.

You probably know me, or wouldn’t mind it.

Relatedly, the obscurity of connectivity. How quickly we become friends, having never met. How strange that you are friends with so-and-so, being geographically removed, devoid of mutual connections, topically irrelevant to his or her lifestream content, 15 years lagging, or of no professional use.

(These are my bottom-up observations. I don’t consider them comprehensive, but the more I encounter, and the more I converse with people in the everyday, the more I find to affirm them. You may find otherwise. My laissez-faire parade, however obscure, is sunny; you don’t want to be the rain on it, do you?)

But was it ever the obvious that created substantive bonds between people? Sometimes. But never without a sense of congeniality–and often just this congeniality, without the obvious. So, I’ll say I think the Internet offers “unexpected accessibility and congeniality”–alongside “unexpected curiosity and respect.”

If you’ve read all this, maybe you think what I wrote is inherently interesting. (I’d prefer if you did, though you needn’t.) But chances are we’ve shared a joke, a life anecdote, a café table–or my digital presence projects to you that we very well could.

After a few years of positively delightful bloggage on Myspace, I’ve decided to move here for a more… substantial blogging platform.

Let’s see how it goes.