As a serious student of archaeology, I was expecting to decode Mayan text and unearth priceless artifacts. Yet somehow, I stumbled upon one of the most ancient truths of humanity: the importance of persuasion, and …
Read the full story »Human insights and observations.
People and the way we do business.
Design, art, music, and all things man made.
Food, meal culture, and the social trade with every dish.
Most people think modern societies are materialistic—we prize our possessions too much. But after working on a fun design-anthropology project on the co-evolution of medium and content, I realized we don’t appreciate our stuff enough!
Consider the timeline of inventions below and how they have affected the very thoughts humans have generated and the very content we humans produce:
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Something significant occured in Berkeley, CA in 1966 that continues to affect students, thinkers, and visitors till this day. Was it the famous riots on Berkeley campus? The establisment of the People’s Park? Or, perhaps …
The dotcom guys got each other excited and created a bust. Banks verified moneymaking programs with other banks, but somehow, they went broke. These groups sought to solve problems and produce value, but the solutions …
It is so easy for people to take the way they see the world for granted. This fact is even more painfully obvious when the subject is sight and blindness. Human beings are so heavily …
“Why couldn’t she understand my agony?” was the puzzlement of the five-year-old Cynthia trying to explain that I had eaten my veggies and pascetti (translation: spaghetti), and was full from dinner. “But MAAaaaooom, my dessert …
Some cultures come with an expiration date. Sometimes intentional, more often not, these movements are never meant to last. One of the starkest examples is the formation and demise of cults. It usually starts
In my Great Grandmother’s house hung a peculiar photograph. It was Grandma J on a ship with a funny pirate and his fake parrot. This photograph made no sense on the surface. Great Grandma J …
Human beings have evolved to live by one truly unique social strategy: storytelling. All cultures have tales and we are wired to listen to, learn from, and retell these stories. Smart individuals and savvy companies thrive on …
Google is one of the few companies that are getting it right this holiday season. They are offering free WiFi to travelers who touch ground in 47 different airports. What is the emotional reaction to …
Which came first, the temple or the restaurant? For a food-loving anthropologist, this is a very tough question! If you follow the path to enlightenment, in this case Highway 101, to the City of 10,000 …
After devouring the ready-to-use wisdom in Change By Design, I began to consider the number of industrial designers I’ve met. I asked: were they really implementing design thinking or just doing design? Sadly, most of them …
Most people think modern societies are materialistic—we prize our possessions too much. But after working on a fun design-anthropology project on the co-evolution of medium and content, I realized we don’t appreciate our stuff …
Some cultures come with an expiration date. Sometimes intentional, more often not, these movements are never meant to last. One of the starkest examples is the formation and demise of cults. It usually starts
It is so easy for people to take the way they see the world for granted. This fact is even more painfully obvious when the subject is sight and blindness. Human beings are so heavily …
Something significant occured in Berkeley, CA in 1966 that continues to affect students, thinkers, and visitors till this day. Was it the famous riots on Berkeley campus? The establisment of the People’s Park? Or, perhaps …
