It is very easy to hurt people. Perhaps in moments of thoughtlessness, we roll over the metaphorical toes of our peers simply by over-assertion of our opinions and dispositions. Take an individual dedicated to a strict schedule and a crystalline and linear conversational style and put that person in a room with another individual that may be scatter-brained, meandering, and genuinely unconcerned with structure of any kind and watch the tensions build.
As the room grows crowded, one begins to tuck in one's elbows to resist collision, yet the possibility remains of accidentally bumping into someone regardless of the precautions taken.
The mere occupation of space becomes the displacement of someone else who could very well possess a just claim to that same space. I myself have found myself wishing I didn't have to take up any space at all. Extension can be so painful when one collides with others.
But then a paradox arises. That very environment you find yourself in often desires your engagement. People want to know you and - in an ironic twist - can be quite hurt when you refuse to engage. The more you diminish yourself out of fear that your positive presence may hurt another, the more you deprive those who wish to know you their points of interface.
Our social space seems to behave like our physical space. We see forces of attraction and repulsion and the strange turbulence that can arise from the resulting contradictions.
Hamlet understood that the more one over-analyzed the situation, the more paralyzed one would become when it came to action in regards to the situation ("to be or not to be" and such things). Well, he understood it perhaps too late and then everyone died! Certainly not the best solution to contemplate at the moment.
Biology can point to the beginning of a solution. Or less of a solution and more of a point of simple blind progress: living things grow rudders - fins, limbs, antennae, etc. - in order to navigate the physical world. Where are our social rudders? Does simply thinking about such matters help to chisel them out?
Yes, the era of the individual is over. This is the era of the social.
