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Web 2.0 Summit: The Internet Helps You Live Longer

Great quote: At a panel on gaming, Trip Hawkins of Digital Chocolate drew a connection between smoking, lung cancer, social connectivity, Web 2.0, and casual games.

Hawkins started by noting that we've all seen photos of lungs turned black by tobacco smoking. Medical science has shown that, if you smoke, you have a greater chance of dying in the next year than nonsmokers -- but if you quit smoking, you cut that chance in half.

Likewise, if you join a club, you *also* cut your chances of dying in half -- even if you continue smoking. The reason: Joining a club brings you better social connectivity, and social connections lead to better health.

"Your social life drives your emotional life, and your emotional life drives your body. We're suffering from blackened social life. That's what Web 2.0 is about," Hawkins said, adding that casual Internet games also bring people together.

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