There is a recent message/discussion board that attempts to debate whether you would or even should offer your seat on a bus to a pregnant woman. That last word seems somewhat surplus doesn’t it? But the whole discussion would seem to me to be superfluous. So what else are the MSNers doing? Well Ashton Kutcher and his new role as one of the two and a half men doesn’t seem to be generating any interest. Well…

Since January 2010 there has been an ongoing chat about

Using one word (only) to describe yourself at this very moment what would that be?

With 2463 messages and 41 brave souls, some of whom engage in the discussion by meeting the questions restrictive requirement, others can’t help being more verbose. With “Fromtheheart” gently reminding would-be posters to keep it simple early on; as the weeks turned into months whole paragraphs appeared and the word “Lazy” showed up a few times along with “Tired”, before the multiple word replies took over, and no one word answers since yesterday afternoon at least.

This discussion board illustrates how a board can morph into a private club with cyberspace companionships coalescing over the months. Some future anthropologists will troll the oceans of electronic waves and beams to piece together a picture of our current society in the infancy of the age of instant messaging, twitting, booking and u-tubing, blogs and chats. Smiles will light the faces of wizzened social scientists, accompanied by their nubile assistants who seek to explain the phenomena of early 21st century communications which are currently encircling the globe and its multifarious peoples bring us together in the great melting pot of file sharing, data retrieval, apps and hand held devices. We are pioneers in the wide, wild word of www.

Who is the smartest man to ever live?

With 55620 views and 912 posts this question is one hot topic on MSN Discussion Boards. One of the latest contributions nominated Jesus Christ due to his combination of being Divine and having an earthy tabernacle of human flesh. And that is juxtapositioned with a vote for Hugh Hefner!

Well how about Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988)  an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics. That’s pretty impressive.

Leonardo da Vinci is an obvious nomination when the Western Tradition is the basis of someone’s cultural experience. And from a religious perspective it is no surprise to see the name Mohammad (P.B.U.H) mentioned. And probably Mother Teresa is going to get a look in because someone did point out that the discussion board should recognize that there maybe a “Smartest Person” of the gentler sex, and then they nominated Sister Hillary Clinton who may not be so gentle and has been said to have been endowed with more testosterone than many a male politician. Einstein gets a nod as one would expect, but the one I like is the apparent serious suggestion that “It’s actually a toss up between Bob Dylan and Mark Twain.” Now while I like the idea of either Twain or Dylan getting the accolade, it is pretty Americocentric. But then I’m also in favor of Americocentricity because after all the USA is (so far) the greatest show on earth. So while the question who is the smartest man ever to live may be a popular discussion on MSN it really is not going to get a definitive answer because no one has yet nominated me!