Sapiens... Qui nesciat. Social learning and the mediatized homo sapiens 51 environments) a few processes – which I will call “immediate functionalities.” These are related to specific problems or ob- jectives of the technical invention developed – basically, to the problem that stimulated the technological invention as a solution strategy and is, thus, addressed. For example, the objec- tive (and the immediate functionality) of writing would have been the record for the conservation and memory of the things said. The immediate functionality of the radio was the possi- bility of sending point-to-point messages to ships (“wireless telegraph T y h ” e ). n, on the technological invention, a second one of a different order develops – through diversified social experi- mentation. The available technology offers itself as a niche, as a given condition for possibilities to be explored. It is about trying and testing other interactional processes, “diverting” the technical process towards unforeseen and unintended exercises in the generation of technology. It is this second process that I characterize as a “social invention,” not produced by technology but by experimentation in communicational circuits – debates, critiques, readjustments, and strategic fillings – exploring the affordances for other purposes. In this social development (which is a medium- and long-term activity), we see several movements. One of them is the return to technology per se, leading its specialists to new technological elaborations to meet emerging goals and prob- lems. Another movement is that of users of previous interactional processes (in their usual circuits), who seek niche rela- tionships with technological offerings, inventing other modes for those activities. Yet, another is experimentation with the new: tentative production of actions, goals, and possibilities that were previously unthinkable and unforeseeable, which can now be generated in this new niche. There are discoveries and advances. On the other hand, habits and patterns are displaced, at different rates according to social sectors, which easily unbalances established general social processes and requires improvised curatorship. What we learn from this sedi- mentation rhythm will provide future modes of interactional stability.
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