Read People's Minds

On the latest issue of Wired Magazine, there's an article by Clive Thompson that talks about how the online small talk software program Twitter actually allows you to almost read the minds of your loved ones. Twitter has become a globally addicting phenomenon, but at first glance, it seems absolutely useless.

Twitter is basically an open-ended instant messenger with a short word limit. When you post something, everyone in the network can read it. This allows you to update everyone you know about the smallest things that you are doing or feeling (e.g. "I bought a t-shirt today.", "I feel suck-y.") by the minute.

Apparently, these usually boring bite-sized updates of each other's lives develops into telepathic links. An intimate sixth sense emerges as the accumulating Twitter messages eventually give you an intuitive pattern of another person's life. By reading about every small detail of a person's present, you might be able to better predict that person's behavior when you meet in the future. It's the kind of deep connection that you see in couples who are in long-term relationships when they reach the point where they can actually finish each other's sentences.

The fact that we have an online tool that gives this ability to anyone interested has some very interesting implications. Can this strengthen long-distance relationships (even at a stronger level than some short-range ones)? Can this allow us to short-cut getting to know someone? Can we multi-task falling in love with someone while we're working in an office cubicle? Should we even try?