The Fist Bump Manifesto

European kiss on the cheeks, one, two, three or four times depending from the Country, Asians bow, gentlemen kiss ladies' hands, and young people give high fives. But soon we all could greet in the same way: fist bumping. As a Society of Simulations we seem to be doing all that we can to remove ourselves from personal interactions on a face to face level. From the perspective of spreading bacteria, fist bumping may be a more sanitary way to greet others. Will it replace the most common of the greeting rituals, the handshake?

“The fist bump has science behind it – reason to hasten its integration as a formal gesture of gender-neutral respect. The handshake, its alternative, is unsanitary. The handshake is outdated in most places, born of a time when we might all be expected to be concealing sabers. It would make more sense for us to casually intertwine almost any other part of our bodies with those of strangers”.

Could this evolve to the point that we will just wave to one another from a safe distance?

Read more in The Fist Bump Manifesto on The Atlantic