Listening to a podcast on artificial intelligence the other day, I was surprised to hear Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, state: “We humans are designed for the campfire, not the online space.”

It stopped me in my tracks. Very few people on earth can say they had more sway, more influence (or profited more) on the online world than Mr. Schmidt.

And yet, here he is claiming we humans are not designed for Facebook or Snap or Tik Tok, etc. Instead, we are made for that small, flickering circle of light around a campfire.

In talking so, Mr. Schmidt takes up the vein of thought shared by Mother Teresa:

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten than we belong to one another.

The benefits of the internet are incredible: world-wide communication capabilities, the flow of instantaneous information, among many others. And, there is another edge to that sword. These same tools can prey on our insecurities and drive us further and further apart.

Those Who Know It & Those Who Don’t

Regardless of what we believe, who we love, or how we worship, we are all a great deal more alike than different. And yet, even with all these amazing tools and abilities, it seems we find ourselves part of small groups floating further and further apart.

If Mother Teresa is correct (and I think she is), then the biggest difference between our family members on earth isn’t who is a member of the family and who isn’t but rather those who know it and those who don’t.

Weequahic, at the end of a tumultuous, challenging year, let’s be the people who know it and act accordingly. The same sun shines on us all. The same earth provides us a home. The more we start acting like a loving family, the more grace we extend to each other, the brighter our future will be.

For those celebrating, Merry Christmas. We can’t wait to get everyone back around the campfire soon.