nu.kanga.list.mud-dev

8350: [MUD-Dev] Re: Laws of Online World Design

Ling writes:
>Once upon a time, I watched a documentary about
>this anthropologist (sp?) watching people.  He asked
>the following questions (paraphrased, badly):
>
>Our ancestors used to roam around in tribes of,
>say, a hundred.  Each individual in a tribe knew
>about a hundred people (well) so how do we, in
>today's society, cope with the urban jungle?  Well,
>each of us form a tribe of our own spanning everyone
>we know well.  That means if you don't know your
>nextdoor neighbour well, he's just one of the neighbouring
>tribes.
>
>Intriguing, different... Well, I thought it was good. :P

That paraphrase sounds very familiar - I think it's
from Desmond Morris, on his documentary series "The
Human Animal".  His work is essentially anthropology
from the perspective of a zoologist.