If you and I talk on our cell phones, we're actually not speaking with each other, but with each other's avatar - writes Stephen Baker on Smart Data Collective's blog. The real you is where your body is. The "you" that I experience is a digital representation of your voice.

Through the conditioning of the modern age, we've come to associate these strings of numbers with ourselves and each other. But still we increasingly deal with each other's avatars. This trend is not going to slow down.

So it might make sense to put more thought into the avatars we create. After all, they're going around the world representing us. For many people, they are us. In fact, it's safe to say that most of the heavy lifting in our personal and professional relationships will be carried out through avatars, and that traditional person-to-person dealings will be something of a boutique offering.

Read the full post: smartdatacollective.com