12 Personal Content Experience: Managing Digital Life in the Mobile Age 2.1 The New Nomads Our ancestors were hunter gatherers. So are we – but not for food. We hunt after ever better, deeper, faster, richer experiences. The curiosity and appetite for something new carries us forwards under the weight of heavy luggage, and keeps us waiting patiently in immigration lines. And while we are on the way there – or already there – we want to stay connected to our people in the global village. Our global family. It was not always like this. In the past people relied on their local communities. Earlier human societies gathered together at water holes and in caves to share necessities such as food, shelter, and tools, and later for purposes of trade and culture. Towns and cities were born out of the economy of concentrating many common functions in cen- tralized places and also out of the human need for socializing. This trend is escalating. We now have megacities with tens of millions of inhabitants, and there is no end in sight (Mitchell 1999). This trend towards urbanization is related to the need for sharing physical goods. As we move towards societies that are based on virtual goods (that is, information), the need for being physically close becomes less. In an information society, we can move around more freely. Many of the aspects of our lives that have previously required being in spe- cifi c places can now be dealt with remotely, or while we are on the move. Salesmen and reporters have always been on the move. They will remain so for as long as they profi t from being physically present in Figure 2-1. Urban crowds in Tokyo, a mobile megacity.