I was watching a television program recently, and a professor said, “The ipod is causing our society to deteriorate, because people are shutting themselves off from other people and the world at large.” That was a ‘gist,’ a paraphrase if you will.

Oh how I do contest. The world is getting smaller, in a state of biggerness, and we are getting better at iving in it.

I have come up with a device that certainly counters such effects as islandism. The device has no name other than the device. The device is quite simple–it is basically web 2.0, wireless networking, combined with gps, and run on a small handheld ipod/cell-phone/pda device.

1.)You create a profile like you would have on a network such as myspace.
2.)Once you create the profile you decide which parameters are available for other devices to access, and which parameters you want to access on other deivces.
3.) The device is set to search for other devices that match the set parameters within a certain physical area.
4.) When the device detects other devices it alerts you, and displays the location of the other device(s) on a map. It can also give you directions for how to get to the other device/person.

Hypothetical situation in which the device actually exists:

I set my device’s accesible parameters to: ‘Hello. My name is Zachary Moldof. I am interested in John Cage, R. Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Marcel Duchamp, Drawing with fine point pens, Reading books. I am from Weston Florida. I enjoy drinking tea.’
I set my device’s searching parameters to: “John Cage”, Chess, Metaphysics, “Black Holes”, “String Theory” (search for any).
I’m standing in Union Square, and someone with a device comes within one-hundred yards of my device. This person’s device’s accesible parameters are set to: ‘Hello my Name is Granger Dawes. I am studying String Theory at NYU. I spend most of my time at school, playing chess, studying at home, or eating good food of various varieties.’ Granger’s device’s searching parameters are set to: Chess.
Because Granger’s accesible parameters coincide with Zachary’s, Zachary is able to locate Granger.

The device allows for the physical fruition of virtual networking accuracy. Essentially the device funcions as an augmentation/extension of the persona. The persona that was previously announced through t-shirt, gaits, piercings, et cetera, is now punctually, and poignantly projected into the accesible realms of anyone else with the available technology.
This device is not a novelty, although it can be utilized in novel applications. The device is a more efficient version of the persona, wherein there are no barriers to the accesibility of people.