• Amber Case is a cyber anthropologist.

  • Anthropology is the study of cultures and their development.

  • Anthropology has been studying tools and cultural artifacts around the world.

  • It studies artifacts that functioned as an extension of the physical self–helping us move faster, hit harder etc.

  • Technology functions as an extension of our mental self–giving my mom in India a direct connection to me in Canada.

  • It is a wormhole connecting people, worlds apart, mentally.

  • But this experience, wormhole to the other side of the world is not what humans are used to.

  • It would be mad if we could sit in a room full of people whose contacts we’ve saved on our phones.

  • This ambient intimacy with the world distracts us from the people right in front of us, and distracts us from ourselves too–giving us less time for self-reflection.