The deliciousness of synchronization

Humans love being in sync.

Trace it back to our roots. Gotta pull a large stone? "Heave ho!"-- pull the rope at the exact moment, and your force multiplies. Need to call someone far away? "One, two, three...JOHN!!!" -- yell at the same time, and your sound travels farther.

Bombard a server from multiple machines around the globe, and you get a DOS attack.

Synchronization is key. ;)

More seriously, it's why church choirs have existed throughout the ages, and army soldiers march despite it making them an easy target. It's called "muscular bonding", and it increases the feeling of group ties and cohesion. It might even be innate -- babies listening to music smile more when their cute dance movements align to the beat. Mirror neurons might be at work here, too.

Humans love being in sync. And, if we take it a stretch, it's why the guitarist in our human-robot band below starts that neck groove at 0:33. (Let's not discuss tuning issues for now :P)



Try it for yourself. Turn on some beat-heavy music and invite a close friend to your room for a dance-a-thon. Tape some EMG sensors on to your face and track your smile as your arms flail in mirror-like ecstasy.

Or, you know, just evaluate it qualitatively. I won't tell.