Monthly Archives: December 2009

Storytelling and the Kingdom of Fear

Posted on December 25, 2009 by Paul Goss

“We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Fiction, Storytelling | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Love of Surveillance: The Illusion of Safety

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Paul Goss

A recent Pew poll has been released concerning opinions of technological and social changes and how positively people view the different changes. Surprisingly high on the list was the increase in surveillance and security, with 58% of those polled viewing … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Built Environment, Surveillance | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

CCTV Sci-Fi Fairytale

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Paul Goss

Austrian artist Manu Luksch recently completed and is now showing the movie Faceless, comprised entirely of CCTV footage from London. The UK Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to access personal data held in computer filing systems, including CCTV … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Surveillance | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Architectural Folklore

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Paul Goss

After completing the previous post of Storytelling, Cultural Transmission and Architecture I began to wonder if there are any architectural folklore or stories, and if there are, how they affect the built environment and people’s preferences toward architecture and cities. … Continue reading →

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Storytelling, Cultural Transmission and Architecture

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Paul Goss

Storytelling has a great value among societies as a method of cultural transmission and social learning. I have recently reread an anthropology article entitled Cross-Cultural Comparison of Learning in Human Hunting. The goal of the article was to examine the … Continue reading →

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Architecture and Anthropology in The House of Mirth

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Paul Goss

This fall I read The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton on the recommendation of a former professor. It is a tale of a young woman in New York’s high society in the early 1900s and follows her social rise … Continue reading →

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Fictional Truths

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Paul Goss

In the same storytelling vein of yesterday’s post, I have been reminded of the idea that fiction can be effectively used to illuminate truth. While reading some of Hunter S. Thompson’s writings, particularly reflections on his infamous style called Gonzo … Continue reading →

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Social Intelligence and Storytelling

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Paul Goss

I recently finished reading 1,001 Arabian Nights, a book I was interested to read after recalling some of my anthropology lectures. In 1,001 Arabian Nights, an Arabian king named Sharyar discovers his wife has been unfaithful to him. After years … Continue reading →

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Architecture for People

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Paul Goss

This article, Design Through Anthropology, published on worldarchitecturenews.com is about a long time trend in Denmark to consider the end user when designing, whether designing a cabinet, chair, home or office building. The article points out that for centuries the … Continue reading →

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The Viral Influence of Social Networks

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Paul Goss

This article, The Buddy System: How Medical Data Revealed Secret to Health and Happiness, was published in Wired magazine in September 2009. Two researchers began to pour over decades of health information found about the population of Framingham, MA. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Architecture, Built Environment, Social Norms | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments