Society’s rules and etiquette’s have been framed by millions of years of physically regionalized human interactions.

These unique geographical places imparted their distinctive values, language, morays and norms to those that lived within its boundaries and taught us what was considered locally right from wrong.

These native rules were passed down orally from one generation to the next, reinforced over time by the education system and culture at large and then enshrined and enforced by local laws.

Our overriding universal culture has historically been dictated by the dominant power of our time – The Roman Empire (circa 100 AD), Song Dynasty China circa 1200 AD, Mughal Empire India circa 1700, and British Empire circa 1870.

Since the 1950’s our dominant culture has been America-centric and with the increase reach of broadcast media in this time, the world has been fed a steady diet of American culture leaving many in both developed and developing nations to measure themselves against American success standards.

With the growth in internet usage, currently 3.4 billion users worldwide or 40% of world population, rising to 5.5 billion by 2020, this single dominant geographic dominance is dwindling and being replaced by a growing diversity of people, languages, cultures, morays, expectations and views blending together from 196 countries, 2,500 languages and endless combinations of cultures all competing for relevancy and longevity.

In a global digital world geographic boundaries and limitations don’t exist, localised norms don’t exist, and culture, language, morays, laws, etiquette, expectations, values and time zones all collide in a new uncharted and ever evolving totally connected borderless fluid digital world.

In this new and evolving digital world we have irrevocably changed what it means to be human, to work, to learn, to love, to play and to belong, leaving us to ponder in the near future whose cultural values will we follow? Will these values be binding on all our behaviours and actions, or is culture instead becoming an issue of circumstance and not place.

These are huge future issues impacting on all humanity and were the starting point for another of my on air chats with ABC Local’s Tony Delroy and ABC Far North’s Phil Staley

All of these innovations and changes are ahead, each in their own way will alter our values, expectations and increasingly evolve what it means to be human.

To work through these and incorporate them into our future lives as meaningful and purposeful; to teach us how, where and when to use these technologies and how to share them evenly and inclusively, are all part of an evolving culture and it is imperative in a world where “new” and “different” are ordinary and mundane that we look to culture as our first unofficial guide to what is acceptable and what is not.

Listeners then took us in all directions with Jill wanting to talk about the impact Virtual Reality may have on Dentistry; John extending the chat into human longevity, genomics and wellness; Russell wanting to explore the impact driverless cars may have by the year 2050 and Bill rounding up the callers with his comments on the notion of digital divide and nano technology.

Have a listen to these podcasts and then add your thoughts on the future digital multiculturalism.

ABC Local –  Nightlife with Tony Delroy – 2nd March 2016 (45 minutes 57 seconds) – complete with talkback callers

ABC Far North-  Phil Staley – 1st March 2016  (13 minutes 49 seconds)