The question I'm addressing is how we humans go from polite introductions (with or without the proffering of business cards or resumes) to rich collaborations and caring friendships -- and I want to understand that dynamic well enough to build something online which will facilitate it.

On the face of it, that seems like a huge stretch -- and indeed, it's movement in that direction that I'm after, I'm not asking that every introduction should lead instantaneously to real friendship -- but it is in fact a stretch that we make over time, chance acquaintances do become firm friends, it happens. And I have two or three signals that tell me where it's happening.

• it happens in conversation
• it happens when you listen and hear
• it happens when you perk up, raise an eyebrow, and lean forward
• it happens when there's an aha!!
• it happens when one idea or topic leads to another
• it happens when you remember stuff you didn't even know you knew
• it happens when you're in off-duty mode, relaxed

The trick, then, is to facilitate and map precisely those kinds of interaction between people, for two or three good reasons:

• because they're the points where people connect with one another
• because they're the turning points of conversation
• because they're the essence of creative thinking
• because they're high endorphin moments, and thus extremely pleasurable
• because they promote bonding
• because they're the points (in knowledge management terms) where covert knowledge becomes overt

• ....priceless

Precisely this sort of human connection, I'm confident you'll find, is what builds the enjoyment which builds the trust which builds the generosity which permits the love which is both the deep solvent of our human differences and their nourishment.

The HipBone Games elicit, facilitate and map this process.