Today, I woke up confused. Something I had read the previous night had been bothering me. It wasn’t clear what it was until I had fully transitioned into wakefulness; then I realized that while I lay there trying my hardest to start the day, a man in Oregon was patiently waiting to end his life. In less than 30 hours, he would be gone, but I would still be living, probably doing something pedestrian like checking Twitter or drinking some orange juice. With that thought, time took on a heavy physicality. I stayed in bed for a while more, letting the minutes steamroll over me. Then I got up.

In Cognitive Surplus, which I started reading finally, Clay Shirky discusses how media has evolved so radically in just a generation’s time. Media was once, by popular definition, communication done by professionals. This was largely because the ability to broadcast messages publicly was available only to those who owned the risky and expensive means of production—television stations, printing presses, radio stations and other mass distribution channels. This was only 30 years ago. Clay recounts a story in which he tries to convince his students at ITP that there was once a time when the average citizen did not really have a public voice. That if you had something to say out loud, there was literally no way to say it aside from holding a sign on a street corner. His students (who I assume were all around my age) had a hard time empathizing with this experience.

Now we have the Internet, and the world is a different place. (It is hard not to take it for granted, sometimes.) Now, you no longer have to be approved by the stamp of professionalism to put your message out in the public. Anybody that has the means of consumption (a computer and an ISP) also has the means of production. Anyone can hit “publish,” including one 39-year old cancer sufferer who decided to take his most personal final hours and share it with the world on Reddit.

I am floored.

I’m floored both emotionally by the courage of this man (and no, I don’t think it’s a hoax… how cynical can you get?) and intellectually at this amazing example of the power of networks. Within hours, not only has his message reached thousands, but he’s received a veritable outpouring of support from all over the world. A spontaneous group effort sprung up to create a global map of pictures and stories, to help the dying man fulfill his wish of a final “world tour.” Heartfelt discussions got started, centering around the delicate issues of death, fear and mortality. Stories both humorous and gut-wrenching were passed around. For the next 51 hours, the world will feel much smaller.

To me, there is no better example of why I am so intrigued by the Internet. For one, it is enabling new forms of human relationships, right before our eyes. I call them new because, when in the past course of human history has someone made 3000 friends in a few hours, Dunbar’s number be damned? And I daresay we are just getting started.

Or perhaps it isn’t so new after all. Clay Shirky suggests that whenever a behavior surprises us, we shouldn’t ask whether something new has come along, rather we should suspect that the impetus has existed all along but the right conditions haven’t. This would imply that we as human beings have always wanted to reach out indiscriminately to each other in times of need. That’s heartening.

Tomorrow, when Lucidending self-administers his fatal dose of medicine, I feel certain that he will have recouped some of the dignity and clarity he is looking for. I’m also thankful for his post on Reddit. It’s living proof that amazing things are about to happen.