via Flickr
Perhaps, as the organizers of The World's Biggest Eye-Contact Experiment suggest, you've gone too long without real, flesh-and-blood human interaction. And they claim there's no connection more profound than a staring into a stranger's eyes.
Today, according to Australia-based activist group The Liberators International, more than 100,000 people in 140 countries will undertake the "experiment" of prolonged eye-contact. Here in St. Louis, the eyeballs-on-eyeballs showdown is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in Kiener Plaza. Participants will set out picnic rugs and erect signs reading "Where has the human connection gone?" Video taken during the event will later be spliced into a "global video" that will, presumably, demonstrate the unique and soulful power of eye-contact.
Granted, it's easy to dismiss this eye-contact stuff as little more than hippie-dippie pablum, but there's a reason why eyes are called the windows to the soul. Studies indicate that eye contact factors into a surprisingly diverse set of human interactions, from maternal-child bonds to what cereal brand we buy at the supermarket.
In fact, some believe two people can be made to fall in love, in part, by having them stare into each other's eyes for four minutes. So ... be careful who you fixate on this evening! It could be for life.
For more details, check out the event's Facebook page, or this trailer:
Follow Danny Wicentowski on Twitter at @D_Towski. E-mail the author at [email protected]
