When I press “publish” on this blog, it will be sent out over the internet to the computers of any of the 1,596,270,108 or so people on Earth who might stumble upon it on a slow workday. This is hardly something that a sculptor like Michelangelo could have imagined as he chipped away at the block of stone that would become the David. But today, as I was looking at the famous statue in Florence’s Accademia, I felt like I was experiencing a kind of communication that was equally improbable and infinitely powerful.

Everyone knows the pose; face averted, slight twist to the trunk, arm raised with the calm of a coiled spring. But entering the space occupied by this figure — the stone that traces the movements of Michelangelo’s hand — is almost like entering the world of a living person. For me, art in general has this quality: the artist frames a space– visual, musical, or whatever— and then leaves it for another person to enter and experience. The beautiful thing about it is that the artist need not be present in order for the communication of his or her thoughts, feelings, or observations to be directly perceived.

Just like great art that survives to speak to people long after its creator is able to listen to them (or to comment on the use of images of David’s lower torso on boxers for tourists), the internet makes possible communication to people far beyond one’s personal world and has the potential for powerful and unpredictable repercussions. I’ve had some interesting experiences with communication and miscommunication here in Urbino the past few days, the least of which has involved an unfortunate combination of gelato flavors, and so, in some respects, I’m wary of the potential that the web has for spreading intercultural misunderstandings—facts divorced from context, opinions from facts (and especially “facts” from truth). But if it is possible for a 15^th-century Italian man to connect with a 21^st-century American student using only a chisel and a block of stone, then perhaps it is possible for a 21^st-century American student to connect with a few other 21^st-century people using the world’s latest technology.