— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

In most of the Amazonian tribes studied, it’s quite normal and OK for a child to have multiple dads, due to the mum not knowing who the real dad is, and not knowing that multiple dads is not a physical possibility.

The benefits are good:

First, secondary fathers gave gifts and helped support the child, boosting child survival rates. Second, brutal warfare was common in ancient Amazonia; under multiple paternity a child who lost a father could still have a father figure. In addition, women believed in essence that multiple sexual partners provided the benefit of larger gene pools for their children.

Men also gained from the multiple paternity system be cause they were able to formalize alliances with other men by sharing wives, added Walker. He hypothesizes that multiple paternity also strengthened family bonds, as brothers of ten shared wives in some cultures.

I’ve said it before (Twin Phone Device), and this new news further proves my point… the future of mobile devices revolves around having paired devices – a phone and a pad. It works like this:

• Just take the phone, as usual
• Just take the iPad, as usual – it will have phone functionality
• Take both with you… they will be twinned… answer a call on your phone, and do video chat on your pad. Take a photo with your phone, edit it on your pad. Receive a web link on your phone, surf to it on your pad.
• You choose the dimensions that suit you – but the average choice will be similar to a current iPhone and a smaller iPad

The trend is for us to communicate more and more in increasingly new ways – phone, email, Facebook, Twitter, IM… and we are becoming a “mostly available” society. People don’t dare remove themselves for long in case they miss something. The downside is that we are constantly distracted. Sometimes, by the time I’ve attended to all my business communications, half of the day is gone, and my brain is no longer fresh enough to do inspired work.

Eventually something needs to happen, to give us relief. I suggest, just like vacations, we each nominate one day a week where we take a break, to get more work done. That’s right, not a break from work, a break for work. A break from communications. Set up an autoresponder for everyone who contacts you personally by email, saying today is your Busy Day and you’ll get back to them the following day. Turn this on the night before. Likewise, set you IM to “away” with the same message. Turn off your phone, the night before.

When you wake up (in my case) or get to work, you’ll feel a sense of freedom. That’s if you can resist the urge to check for important messages. Then, get started on that job that requires your constant attention all day – perhaps writing an article, fixing a buggy program, whatever.

It will take a brave person to initiate this – perhaps I won’t do it myself – but it could catch on, and become part of our modern vocabulary: sorry, Wednesday is my Busy Day.