This Anthro Life

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.

Interdependence is the idea that the wellbeing of our world and for our physical and emotional selves depends on those around us, yet when we find ourselves up against a challenge bigger than ourselves, our sense of interdependence becomes stronger. When we move that scale even larger (i.e. a global climate crisis), interdependence becomes paramount. Climate change not only affects our everyday lives, but affects cultural history and cultural artifacts such as books and architectural styles, as well as more ephemeral practices like theater, song and language. How well we are able to face these challenges has to do with how we tell stories. How well we tell stories depends on what we choose to protect, preserve, and make prosper in our cultures. If you’ve used the Internet in the last 20 years, or 20 minutes, you know that there isn’t a lack of information or stories online, but how much of our and others’ cultural heritage exists digitally, how accessible is it, and who is able to contribute?These are questions that Charles Henry engages with in this episode. Charles is the president of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), a nonprofit that works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities to improve research, teaching, and learning environments. Check out the Council on Library and Information Resources: https://www.clir.org/about-us/history/Digital Library of the Middle East, one of the world’s largest online archives of Middle Eastern and North African artifacts. https://www.clir.org/2020/07/clir-and-stanford-libraries-announce-digital-library-of-the-middle-east-platform/The HBCU Library Alliance Partnership, which is a long-term partnership to foster awareness of and access to collections held by Historically Black Colleges and Universities. https://www.clir.org/initiatives-partnerships/hbcu-library-alliance/

When we think about social science and social scientists working out in the world, we tend to jump to the science part, you know jobs that focus on research - consumer research, user experience research, or qualitative studies for non-profits. But if you have any experience with therapy, whether as a patient or therapist, worked with a career or life coach, or anything to do with conflict mediation, you might have noticed there’s more than a little overlap in skill sets with anthropology.I have been really fortunate to get to know Nethra Samarawickrema, co-founder of the Listen Up Lab, an anthropologist and coach and all around calming presence - something we need more of today. What’s her secret? Well a lot of things, but one I want to pull out here is her application of a mode of listening called Nonviolent Communication. Nethra reveals the common connection between anthropology and nonviolent communication that drew her to both and shows how they complement one another. Think about things like withholding judgment, active listening, situated perceptiveness.If this episode sounds good to you, I highly recommend you check out our conversation with Jeremy Pollack on how to manage social conflict, communicate effectively and finding common ground. These episodes complement one another really well. https://www.thisanthrolife.org/how-to-manage-social-conflict-communicate-effectively-and-find-common-ground-with-jeremy-pollack/ Listenup Lab: https://www.listenuplab.com/Listen Up Lab is running a 2-day online workshop called FLOW to support writers and artists with unblocking themselves on April 23 and 24th, 2022. The details and sign up information can be found here: https://www.listenuplab.com/course-content-flowNethra would love to connect with people who might be interested in coaching related to work, creativity, or getting in touch with their needs in their relationships. She offers free introductory hour-long coaching sessions that folks can sign up for on my website here: https://www.workwithnethra.com/

If you’re alive in 2022 you’ve probably heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Whether you’re an active trader, just dabble, or think you’d never touch the stuff, cryptocurrency raises a fascinating challenge to the question of what is money? And how can technology fundamentally reshape how we engage in finance and social life? Is crypto a revolution? If you're listening to this episode in early 2022, then you're probably well aware of the ongoing inflation and commodity price increases both in the United States and globally. You know, money and finance are often the table stakes of how we think about navigating life today. That can both be part of the background or very much in the foreground of our minds, depending on how things are going. And as we wrestle with economic uncertainty in the wake of war, a changing climate and geopolitical shifts things can feel bleak. But at these moments, it's important to stay curious and ask where and how are we trying to make things better? And this is a bit about where that revolutionary technology part just might come in.Mick Morucci is a crypto-anthropologist, Bitcoin expert and the co-founder of geyser.fund, and NFT social discovery platform. He’s also a prolific writer and publishes regularly on Bitcoin, block chain technologies and NFTs.In this episode we explore:- the cultural and financial origins of Bitcoin- what is a blockchain- money as information and story- open source technologies- why decentralization matters- privacy and surveillanceand more!https://www.mickmorucci.com/https://geyser.fund/ Check out some of Mick's writing:Bitcoin as a Divine Idea - https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-as-a-divine-ideaWhy Anthropologists are More Interested in Bitcoin than Economists - https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/anthropologists-are-interested-in-bitcoinThe Social Experience of NFT Art - https://forefront.news/blog/feat-mick-social-experience-of-nftEpisode produced by Adam Gamwell

It's a common truism that history is often written by the victors, but it is equally true that the actual story is more complicated. One of the most poignant examples of this is the "discovery" of the new world by Christopher Columbus.So today I am super excited to have author Andrew Rowen back on the podcast. Andrew caught our attention back in 2017 for his book encounters, "Unforeseen 1492 Retold", which rather than another single sided story is a bicultural retelling that portrays the life stories of both Columbus and the Taíno chieftains from their youth to their encounters during the invasions of 1492.Andrew is back to talk about the sequel "Columbus and Caonabó 1493 to 1498 Retold". In this episode, we explore Andrew's rationale for producing a bicultural series of novels and choosing historical fiction over historical nonfiction in order to bring to life the context thought processes and perspectives of people present at the time in the 15th century.This also meant writing in a way that doesn't prescribe how events would turn out because of course, folks in the 15th century had no idea what was going to happen. The 1493 to 1498 epoch also entailed some of the most challenging aspects to explore such as the growing discontent between Taíno chieftans and Spaniards, Columbus' continual insistence on enslavement, the role of disease and sickness in cross-cultural encounters and the political machinations of queen Isabella and king Ferdinand. This episode has a bit of everything, you know, whether you're interested in the world of the 15th century and, or you're curious about the process of writing historical fiction, including how to do archival and on-site research and do character development in ways that make sense with the research that you're finding and the challenges of telling bicultural histories in respectful and honest ways.Website: AndrewRowen.com Facebook: @andrewsrowenProduction: Adam GamwellEditing: Craig StantonMusic: Crackle and Chop, Epidemic Sounds

Have you wondered why fantasy stories mostly are just copies of Medieval Europe? Why pop culture has been so obsessed with zombies? Or why Black Panther and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier seemed to hit the right chord at the right time for American conversations on race? To answer these questions, we're diving into world building, the process of creating realized worlds for (mostly) fictional stories and how anthropology could literally change the game.On this episode Astrid Countee joins Adam Gamwell to co-host a conversation with the very dynamic duo of biological anthropologist/archaeologist Kyra Wellstrom and cultural anthropologist Michael Kilman. Kyra and Michael are educators and authors, and their latest book caught our attention because it does two things at once. First, it serves as an introductory textbook for anthropology students, digging into key ideas like culture, ritual, food, power and death. But second, it’s premised around how to use anthropology for building better world for game design, fiction writing, and filmmaking. Building a better worlds is about creating more authentic characters based on actual science and data on culture. Thus the book is both an introductory text for anthropology students and creators.Production: Adam GamwellMusic: Take 2 - Pro ReesA Nifty Piece of Work - New FoolsRagtime - peerless

Charles Foster set out to answer one of the most perplexing questions of all - what sort of creatures are we humans? - in one of the most unique ways possible: immersing himself in experiences that evoke three central epochs in the development of consciousness - the upper Paleolithic, around 40k years ago, the neolithic, around 10k years ago when humans invented/stumbled upon and couldn’t get out of agriculture, and the Enlightenment, which ushered in the scientific revolution in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.Interested in checking out Charles' new book Being a Human: Adventures in 40,000 years of Consciousness? We've got copies to give away!Music: Epidemic SoundsIntro - Jazz Bars - Dusty DecksOutro - Up & Down - Toby TranterEditing: Craig StantonResearch: Kiera MylesProduction: Adam Gamwell