A couple of weeks ago, I received the visit of a Guatemalan friend who was

returning from a business trip in Uruguay. He brought me a Uruguayan newspaper article titled: Autismo Social un Fenmeno de Nuestro Tiempo - Harlem Shake y la Aldea Global (Social Autism a Phenomenon of Our Time - Harlem Shake and the Global Village), written by Jorge Majfud. The article captured my attention for three reasons: it uses the term Autism

applied to an entire society, it discusses digital communication as an enabler, and it conveys the authors rhetoric in a Luddite tone. Majfud presents his apocalyptic argument about the Harlem Shake video

by using a combination of a Narrative and Dramatistic rhetorical analysis. He concludes that such viral phenomenon is a portrait of our societys inability to form normal social relationships and its impairment of communication. Using the narrative perspective, I will discuss how his one-sided argument

could have a negative impact on his audience by increasing the fear of embracing technology. Also, I will explore an alternative interpretation of the Harlem Shake Video phenomenon by reviewing: why humans communicate; how communication has evolved and continues to do so; and how, instead of suffering from autism, our society is simply constantly adapting to a more complex sociotechnological evolution.
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DEFINING AUTISM
Before I start my analysis, I deem crucial to define the word Autism because it is central to Majfuds message. According to the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, Autism is a developmental disorder that... is recognized and diagnosed by impairment of the ability to form normal social relationships, by impairment of the ability to communicate with others...

WHO IS JORGE MAJFUD?

Based on Majfuds gloom and doom views of our society, expressed on the Autismo Social newspaper article and his criticism of social networks and electronic communications, which he calls incomunicaciones electrnicas, I pictured him as an old guy resisting technological advances. To my surprise, he is a 44-yearold assistant professor of Spanish at Jacksonville University. He is also an awardwinning writer. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and writes articles for several magazines and newspapers around the world. Among his wealth of articles, he wrote: The Culture of Hate, The Imperfect Sex: Why is Sor Juana Not a Saint? and Where we are Headed. The latter starts with the following statement, The 20th Century was a pessimistic century. So much so that even today no serious thought is possible without a strong dose of bitterness. (Where We Are Headed).

SOCIAL AUTISM AND THE HARLEM SHAKE ARTICLE

Jorge Majfuds gloomy outlook is also found in his article Harlem Shake y la Aldea Global. It was published in the printed edition of the Uruguayan newspaper La Repblica on March 16, 2013. He argues that the isolation of the individuals of todays society is syntag-

matic to the Zombie Phenomenon and consumerism. In his analysis, consumerism transformed the individual into a will-less being that consumes idly and is
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consumed at the same. As a result, the individual has been robbed of his human dignity and became an object of society by the automation of his mind. Since people have become objects, the disposal mentality of consumerism

also applies to them. We dispose people, or the relationship with them, once they have served their purpose. Higher rates of divorce, disrespect and abandonment of the elder, fleeting friendships, replacing workers with automated machines, objectification of women in advertisement, and children labor are just a few examples of the pervasive results of the disregard for human dignity in a consumerist society. Majfud states that the Harlem Shake video is not only a kairotic, funny,

and senseless dance that went viral, it is the parody of the autistic society that we live in. He starts by describing the setting, characters, events, relationships, and

the negative moral of the text. This video has two acts. On the first act there is one individual that moves around dancing-like and the group of people around him are doing non-related individual activities. This behavior can be ob-

served also in live settings such as restaurants, where a group of friends or a family is having dinner together and instead of engaging in conversation, each one is checking their cellphones. Another example could be the multitasking of employees in the midst of a business meeting.
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People read e-mails, send text messages, and/or update their Facebook status while discussing business. This is todays idea of being together or what Majfud calls Social Autism. Going back to the video, Majfud argues that the idea of alienation and

lack of communication is accentuated by the fact that the lone ranger usually wears a hardhat or a mask. He also considers that the individual dance is a sign of narcissism. On the second act, everybody imitates the first one but add its own twist. All

the zombies mindlessly follow the leader and behave like him, but with a minor difference, because the Narcissus needs to feel different. To Majfud, this is un acto de masturbacin colectiva (an act of collective masturbation), the triumph of the autistic, but not the overcoming of autism. Majfuds overview points out what is wrong with society: isolation, consum-

erism, zombie phenomenon, narcissism, voyeurism, etc. and implies that digital media such as Facebook and YouTube are enablers of such despicable behaviors.

UNDERSTANDING THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATION EVOLUTION
The two major characteristics of autism are social and communication behaviors. Therefore, understanding the past, observing the present, and predicting the future of social and communication systems is critical to conclude if humanity is becoming autistic or evolving. Like other primates, humans are social beings. Protection from harsh envi-

ronments and sharing of goods were two of the main reasons groups were formed among humans. As basic needs were met with ease and predators were no longer a threat, we started to form more intricate relationships and stronger social bonds (Social Life).
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According to the What does it mean to be human? website, humans be-

gan interacting with social groups located far from their own 130,000 years ago and faraway trading started 40,000 years ago. These activities enriched their lives and enable them to survive. Humans social evolution started 2.6 million years ago with the birth of tech-

nology, when we started using stone tools (Human Evolution Timeline Interactive). We have gone from a nomad tribe to a global village and along the way we have endured three dramatic shifts. We stopped wandering the lands and settled down to farm and herd ani-

mals. This stage lasted around 12,000 years and ended with the Industrial Revolution. Farming and herding, as the main source of resources, were replaced by mass production. The Industrial Revolution Age only lasted 150 years and gave in to the Information Age. The Information Age can be divided in two phases: the Information Phase,

the stage of the knowledge worker... he who creates and manages information, massaging it into intangible knowledge goods, a good example of this is Microsoft (Zelenka), and the Connection Phase, the stage of the web worker... he who creates and manages relationships across knowledge goods, hardware, and people (Zelenka), where Google is the poster child. Communication is a key component of socialization. Therefore, social evo-

lution has always being accompanied by communication evolution. Rembrandt Klopper, a professor at University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, estates that forms of communication have periodically emerged to help humans cope with ever increasing cultural complexification (107). Survival is the need that drives both, socialization (group formation) and

communication. Therefore, we always have to keep in mind that survival is the

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driving force of communication. In Kloppers words, communication is a contested meeting of minds, where fellow communicators cooperate, compete or confront one another to clearly convey their intentions and contentions (109). Changes to the social struc-

tures coincide with new forms of communication. Non-verbal, verbal and graphical representations were developed during the nomadic age to help them stay on top of the food chain. Once nomads settled in and form communities, political leaders emerged. The power struggle among leaders gave birth to new forms of communication. Discourse allowed leaders to compete with other leaders and ensure power over their followers. On this early stage of the pastoral age, knowledge was transmitted orally. Later, written communication emerged and allowed knowledge to be recorded. The catalyst of the knowledge boom was the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg which allowed people to learn independently and to communicate across time and space. (Klopper 116)
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Rapid urbanization and mass production of goods characterized the Indus-

trial Age. Before the Industrial Revolution, we consumed what we needed. The mass production of the new era created an unbalanced market. The amount of goods exceeded the needs of consumers and the solution to that problem was to change the buyers behavior. People no longer would buy because they need, but because they want. Companies resorted to advertising to create the illusion that wants are needs and to promote the need to replace instead of repair. Consumerism came to life and with it a new form of communication was also born: electronic communications - telegraph, radio, and television. But to understand our present, the Information Age, Klopper goes back to

the beginning because Our ancient nomadic souls are incongruent with present-day sedentary existence... to communicate electronically is to move about, explore, travel and visit people at new destinations (121). This nomadic belief system goes hand in hand with todays mobile culture. Klopper points out that the amount of travel metaphors that we use in our language is evidence of this yearning. For example, going online, surfing the web, visiting websites, etc. The invention of the personal computer catapulted the sharing of knowledge and independent learning, while the Internet allowed us to explore of the whole world from wherever we are (140).
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The latest technological inventions occurred at the same time as the roots

of what we knew as social structures and roles started to change. The stronghold of our society, the family, is no longer a two-parent household; we now have: single parent households, same-sex parent households, or no-family households because being single is no longer a taboo. Private intimacy has been substituted by public sociability at a global scale. Men spend more time at home, while women spend less time at home. Entertainment moved from public places to the intimacy of home. (Wellman) To understand better the phenomenon of the Harlem Shake, and the isolation

that Majfud declared as autistic behavior, we need to look ahead. From the spectrum of future technologies, I think Quantum Computing might hold the answer of why we are isolating ourselves and displaying abnormal social behaviors. Quantum theory have demonstrated that matter simultaneously has two modes of existence... everything in the universe, including humans, is built up from particles that are located in space-time, but which at the same time exists as waves that are not subject to space-time constraints... So could you be turned quantum? It all comes down to information, or the flow of it. This determines how you interact with the world, and whether you can, for example, be in two places at once. If you want to be quantum you have to isolate yourself from your surroundings by making sure there is no way that you leak information (132-3)
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CONCLUSION
I am sure Luddites have existed on each age of humanitys evolution history. They were ready to condemn the new and cling to the old, but their resistance to adaptation did not stop progress; it only made the growing pains even more painful, for them and their followers. When I say that Majfuds rhetoric has a Luddite tone, I am not negating the

value of his observations, but I do believe he is presenting a one-sided argument. I agree with some of his ideas, especially those related to the harmful effects of consumerism. Majfud compared what he calls the autistic characteristics of dances such

as Breakdance and Harlem Shake to the narcissism-voyeurism of Facebook. In a way, he was criticizing YouTube and Facebook for being the platform of such unacceptable behaviors. Majfud delivered his message of digital media disdain to a population characterized as technological averse (Latin American adults between the ages of 45 and 65); his criticism may only increase his audience fear of technology and resistance to embrace the new Communication Era. Feeding fears does not help, it only hinders adaptation. Enabling understanding, in the other hand, sets people free to explore and make educated decisions. We are witnessing and, at the same time, co-creating the new phase of hu-

man communication, which is being prompted by a reconfigured social structure and the fast-paced technological advances. The isolation of individuals, considered abnormal, based on todays normal

social behavior standards, might be the preparation for us to become quantum and the new standard for future generations.

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WORKS CITED Human Evolution Timeline Interactive. What does it mean to be human? Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

Klopper, Rembrandt. Future Communications: Mobile Communications, Cybernetics, Neuro-Informatics and Beyond. School of Information Systems & Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa. 2005: 121-144. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

--- The Evolution of Human Communication from Nonverbal Communication to Electronic Communications. School of Information Systems & Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa. 2005: 107-120. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

Majfud, Jorge. Harlem Shake y la Aldea Global. La Repblica. 16 Mar. 2013. Print.

---Where We Are Headed. MRZine. 19 Dec. 2006. Web. 18 Apr. 2013 Social Life. What does it mean to be human? Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

Wellman, Barry. The Network Community. An Introduction to Networks in the Global Village. Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto, n.d. Web. 30 Mar.

2013. Zelenka, Anne. From The Information Age To The Connected Age. Gigaom, 6 Oct. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2013

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