When we think of robots, we tend to think of things like R2-D2, the Terminator skeleton, or a piece of machinery that automates the construction of goods in an assembly line. But that’s not all there is to robots — something anthropologist and roboticist entrepreneur Lora Koycheva understands perfectly well. In this episode, Lora shares her unique perspective on the intersection of anthropology and cyber-physical systems with host Adam Gamwell. She also discusses how anthropology can shed light on what robots afford human bodies, why the physical side of robots is just as important as their operating systems, and how robots can potentially reshape the human condition.Episode Highlights:

• [03:03] How Lora brought together entrepreneurship, innovation, anthropology, and robotics
• [08:24] On-demand infrastructure and how it empowers robotics in the urban realm
• [11:59] How we can get comfortable with the physical side of robotics
• [18:28] How Lora came up with the idea of rebuilding the human condition in a world of robots
• [22:52] How and why Lora set up the Green Like a Robot project and why it matters for scholarship and society
• [27:04] Questions worth tackling when working with robots
• [35:51] Lora’s experience working with engineers
• [40:10] Commonalities between anthropology and engineering worth cultivating
• [45:06] Why embodiment is difficult to innovate through digital means

Links and Resources:

• koycheva-green-like-a-robot.html">Green Like a Robot
• Connect with Lora Koycheva via LinkedIn
• Connect with Adam Gamwell via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter
• Subscribe to the This Anthro Life newsletter

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many of us individually and as a global cohort to reassess how and why we live the ways that we do and what really matters to us. Through the pandemic, we may have also felt moments of awe at the natural world and questioned our place in it. In moments like these, we’re afforded glimpses into how we choose to operate in the world and understand our place in relation to everything else. Rituals play a key role in helping us make sense of the world around us, yet we often forget that they’re even there. Today’s guest, Sasha Sagan, picks up on this thread through her writing and podcast work.Daughter of “Cosmos” co-writer Ann Druyan and astronomer Carl Sagan, Sasha talks with host Adam Gamwell about the power of ritual for making meaning across life, death, nature, and more. She also shares how she learned to ask questions, the value of finding awe in the most mundane of rituals, and how turning our attention anew to the natural world can help us add wonder back into our lives.Show Highlights:

• [06:53] What inspired Sasha to create her podcast “Strange Customs”
• [13:04] How Sasha’s parents taught her to love and ask questions
• [21:30] How parents may inadvertently teach their children to stop asking questions
• [29:33] Our beliefs and customs around language and communication
• [37:56] How Sasha thinks about different media as different methods for storytelling
• [47:56] How we dress up scientific phenomena in beliefs and customs
• [59:19] Why people are getting more creative with how they tackle life-defining moments
• [01:00:45] How we can demonstrate anthropology’s value
• [01:03:37] How we can add awe back into our lives

Links and Resources:

• Strange Customs with Sasha Sagan
• For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World by Sasha Sagan (Anthrocurious' Bookstore Affiliate Link - purchasing here supports the show!)
• Check out Sasha Sagan’s website
• Connect with Sasha Sagan via Twitter or Instagram
• Connect with Adam Gamwell via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter
• Subscribe to the This Anthro Life newsletter

How to Build a More Resilient WorldThe COVID-19 pandemic leveled the playing field between those who have the privilege to avoid or mitigate disasters and those who don’t. But the pandemic is just one of many ongoing challenges and crises that people are and have been facing for years. In addition to raising awareness, much of the work that we have as people and organizations is in how we respond in moments of crisis. How do we know what works? How can we respond effectively? And will one type of aid be culturally appropriate if moved to another area? To help us answer these questions, we’re joined today by Britt Titus. Britt is the Behavioural Insights Lead at the Airbel Impact Lab, the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) research and innovation team which designs, tests, and scales solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. Drawing from her decade-long experience in the humanitarian space, Britt talks about 1) how regional disaster response can be applied to global emergencies, 2) how the Airbel Impact Lab team localizes and evaluates the impact of its interventions, and 3) what’s top of mind for them in creating life-changing solutions for the communities that the IRC serves.Show Highlights:

• [03:37] How Britt found herself at the intersection of behavioral insights design and the humanitarian space
• [08:33] How lessons gleaned from regional disaster response can be applied to global emergencies
• [12:03] The methods that the Airbel Impact Lab uses to localize interventions
• [21:05] How the Lab evaluates the impact of its interventions
• [28:21] On the process of re-sharing localized information and learnings elsewhere
• [32:22] A key challenge facing Britt and her colleagues today
• [37:32] Britt discusses the Lab’s InforMH project
• [47:21] What Britt is looking forward to in the behavioral design and humanitarian space

Links and Resources:

• Airbel Impact Lab
• International Rescue Committee
• InforMH
• TIWG Forced Migration Series: Humanitarian Response Interventions, Jeannie Annan and Britt Titus
• Connect with Britt Titus via LinkedIn
• Connect with Adam Gamwell via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter

Subscribe to the This Anthro Life newsletter

Consumers today find brands through many online sources, including search engines and social media. And with the rise of hyper-personalized ads, consumers are constantly being bombarded with brands that seem to speak to their needs and interests.Given such a landscape, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that brands need to move beyond business fundamentals and into the fundamentals that we share as human beings if they wish to stand out. That is to say, brands need to shape not only what consumers buy, but also how they feel about and relate to brands themselves.In today’s episode of This Anthro Life, host Adam Gamwell speaks with Dr. Matt Johnson, author of “Branding That Means Business,” about the whys and hows of consumer-brand relationships, brand strategy and identity, the role brands play in our lives, and more.Show Highlights:

• [03:08] The fundamental principles of branding
• [05:48] On the functional value of brands
• [09:18] How brands can shape consumers’ perceptions of reality
• [15:06] The ways brands can be smart about being global
• [21:51] Why brand strategy should be specific and consistent
• [25:01] On brand polysemy
• [28:30] On the difference between corporate social responsibility and activism
• [34:15] Closing statements

Links and Resources:

• Matt Johnson’s website
• Branding That Means Business by Matt Johnson and Tessa Misiaszek (link to the Anthrocurious bookstore, where purchasing the book supports the authors, local bookstores and the Anthrocurious community. It's a win win win.)
• 231 - Branding That Means Business with Matt Johnson by The Brainy Business Podcast
• Subscribe to This Anthro Life’s newsletter
• Connect with Adam via email
• Connect with Adam via the This Anthro Life website

Indigenous cultures around the world have a trickster god or figure in their mythos. For example, the Pacific Northwest Native Americans have the Raven, a selfish, hungry, and mischievous figure who transforms the world. Stories tell how the Raven brought out the sun, moon, and stars to light the world only by cleverly deceiving others.In today’s episode of This Anthro Life, Dr. Shepherd Siegel, activist scholar and author of “Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love: How Tricksters Through History Have Changed the World,” discusses the Trickster archetype with host Adam Gamwell. Together, Shepherd and Adam explore attributes of the Trickster, Shepherd’s favorite Tricksters, and examples that demonstrate Trickster archetypes confronting power and tricking it into love.Show Highlights:

• [04:05] Breaking down the title of the book
• [11:00] What love has to do with the trickster archetype
• [17:04] How Shepherd’s background came into play in writing his book
• [24:48] The different kinds of play and how they relate to the warrior and the trickster
• [29:46] The Burning Man as an example of a cultural experience premised on disruptive play
• [37:01] Why the trickster is anti-war
• [45:45] On Richard Pryor narrating George Floyd’s murder in 1979
• [56:07] Bugs Bunny as an example of a character that exemplifies the trickster archetype
• [59:07] Closing statements

Links and Resources:

• Check out the new Anthrocurious Bookshop - partnership with Bookstore.org where you can support local bookstores and the podcast when you purchase books mentioned on the show.
• Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love: How Tricksters Through History Have Changed the World by
• Shepherd Siegel's website
• Subscribe to This Anthro Life’s newsletter
• Connect with Adam via email
• Connect with Adam via the This Anthro Life website

If you're getting something out of This Anthro Life, then please share it with your friends and family! Let them know that this podcast is a great source of interesting and informative stories about anthropology and the human experience. With your help, we can reach more people and bring them into the fascinating world of anthropology. So join us in our mission to make anthropology accessible and share This Anthro Life today!

Show NotesBuilding a New Labor Market for Global Design Talent with Fredrik ThomassenMore and more businesses are switching to remote work amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But one startup was ahead of the curve, having been 100% remote since its inception in 2016.That startup is Superside, a fully distributed design operations platform that seeks to support a global remote workforce. By introducing a remote work policy, Superside gives designers around the world better income opportunities, regardless of their gender, race, or location.In this episode, host Adam Gamwell speaks with Superside CEO and Founder Fredrik Thomassen about remote work and how the pandemic accelerated its adoption worldwide, the promise and challenge of fully online organizations, the inclusion of minorities in the workforce as a global business imperative, and more.Show Highlights:[04:10] How Fredrik Thomassen started Superside[07:37] On the power of remote work and the opportunities it opens up[14:23] How remote work can improve workforce diversity[20:07] Issues with traditional hiring practices[24:50] On the importance of taking candidates’ values into account in the hiring process [29:19] How Superside keeps its employees happy and fulfilled[35:44] Why management is not as complicated as it is made out to be[37:55] Why Superside as an organization values truth-seeking[45:54] Closing statementsLinks and Resources:Check out SupersideSubscribe to This Anthro Life’s newsletterConnect with Adam via emailConnect with Adam via the This Anthro Life website

The vast majority of published scientific literature and new research is hidden behind paywalls. Worse, what few accessible papers available online are oftentimes written in jargon, i.e., specialist language that can alienate non-expert readers.Combined, these two issues make it difficult for researchers, scientists, and even entrepreneurs to build on new discoveries and for members of the public to access credible, peer-reviewed literature in the age of misinformation.The good news is, natural language processing-based startups are working to change the conversation around access to scientific knowledge in impactful ways. One such startup is Consensus, an AI-powered search engine designed to provide users a view into what the research says with the click of a button.In this episode, host Adam Gamwell is joined by Consensus CEO Eric Olson to talk about the company’s inception, the promise and new waves of natural language processing technology, and how Consensus is making scientific findings accessible and consumable for all.Show Highlights:[04:08] How Eric Olson got into natural language processing[06:15] How tech can help users know what information to trust online[08:10] The difference between giving good information and giving engaging information[10:32] How Consensus attempts to disrupt the global search industry[13:50] The current state of search[15:32] How Consensus approaches partnerships[17:07] On the size of Consensus’ corpus[19:59] How natural language processing is evolving[21:19] How Consensus fine-tunes its AI system[24:53] On using AI generators to write papers[26:47] How search platforms like Consensus can be built in a way that’s usable for laypeople[30:32] Why context in AI is important[33:05] The three things that differentiate Consensus from existing search engines[39:37] What’s next for NLP-based technologies as a whole[41:14] What’s next for Consensus[43:10] On the hypothesis that AI can’t replace subjective, art-based roles[46:12] Closing statementsLinks and Resources:Check out ConsensusSubscribe to This Anthro Life’s newsletterConnect with Adam via emailConnect with Adam via the This Anthro Life website

What makes the human mind unique? How do we know there’s a future, and how do we recall the past? In this episode of This Anthro Life, Byron Reese, serial entrepreneur, technologist, and author of “Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future--and Shape It,” discusses these questions and more with host Adam Gamwell. Together, Byron and Adam explore the three leaps in human history that made us what we are today and how those leaps changed how we think about the future, the past, and everything in between.Show Highlights:[03:16] The inception of “Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future--and Shape It”[05:23] Homo erectus and the Acheulean hand axe[06:38] How the Acheulean hand axe is a genetic object, not a cultural one[08:27] The awakening that ancient humans had undergone[09:27] Language as a means to conceptualize the future and gain knowledge of the past[13:02] The four things that all languages have[16:01] How humans’ group action became more than just the sum of its parts[18:57] A superorganism named Agora as a metaphor for how people working together can get more done[24:06] How the probability theory helps us understand how we imagine the future[24:37] The probability problem[28:01] How there is predictability in randomness[34:33] The human body as a superorganism[36:30] The problem with data in artificial intelligence[41:48] Galton’s regression to the mean and eugenics as a cautionary tale[44:59] Eternal vigilance as the price of current and future technological advancements[47:04] Why humans are not machines[50:05] The 21st purpose of telling stories, according to Byron[52:32] Closing statements

Ashley Meredith serves as the National Cultural Anthropologist and Deputy National Historic Preservation Officer for the Federated States of Micronesia. Micronesia is a sovereign island country in Oceania situated northeast of Australia and Papua New Guinea and consists of 600 islands covering a massive area of around 1 million square miles. There are 18 languages spoken across the islands.Echoing what we might call a traditional fieldwork approach, Ashley works with a team to document, preserve, and establish cultural pathways for different Micronesian communities. This includes work like ethnographic surveys, linguistic studies and observational fieldwork. Yet, her work is also applied anthropology. She talks with communities to understand what they want in terms of infrastructure, tourism, education, or heritage development and works with them to find resources, generate funding and support. Beyond this, she interfaces between communities, government and international relations including with the United States and UNESCO. Ashley’s breadth of experience provides a key perspective for rethinking how we use data. This includes why we need qualitative data in a world obsessed with numbers, but also how transmission matters. As we explore in this conversation, transmission has to do with cultural practices like storytelling as much as with technological limitations such as internet speed across the islands.