Strathern - Bao

I think that the Marilyn Strathern article was helpful in the sense that it condenses some of the issues regarding relationships and networks while presenting the advantages and disadvantages of using these tools in conducting research. In particular, I was struck by the theory of hybridized networks, both within human kind as well as between humans and technology. It is by no means unexpected that technology has affected the way in which humans relate to each other, but it was interesting to see that technology can have a direct and immediate impact on relationships. One question that I had after finishing the reading was regarding family kinship ties and networks and how they are tied into technology. Do these networks expand in traditional ways by simply allowing for more people to be included within them or does technology help to cut down unnecessary networks by only maintaining those that are the most use (in essence, making "networking" more efficient"). If we were to consider the networks that are maintained, how many of them are based upon economic or monetary reasons versus those that are not (or do these even exist?)? And finally, does this give rise to a family that works together as a unit for similar goals or does this encourage separation and independence, both as a member of society as well as in the economic sphere? I'm not sure how easy or difficult it would be to answer these questions, but with all of them lies the underlying issue of how to end these relationships, and if networks are continually growing or if we can define a specific end for them.