How Blind are we to our Surroundings? Are you Swimming or not?

Came across a passage from the late great David Foster Wallce. It”s a story about fish and, honestly, who doesnt love stories about the sea?

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”

While contemplating people’s habits the past few weeks, it’s increasingly evident that the will to believe is the most important factor when it comes to believing in change.  As Wallace says, the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. We are blind to our surroundings. Sometimes we look too far and don’t notice who is sitting next to us, or looking us in the eyes. Thus, we can’t possibly understand people’s innate habits and even begin to understand how we alter these habits as marketers until we first recognize there is a special free will people tap into that drives their cravings.

So, the moral of the story? Even if you think you’re swimming check to see if you are in water.

 

Culture influencing natural selection…

Maybe Darwin was right afterall? Or, at least says the NY Times. Apparently “culture was thought to have blunted the rate of human evolution,” but now it is seen in an opposite light. As a cultural strategist, this is apparent to me in  everyday life. You didn’t have to sail on the Beagle to know this…

Many biologists are now seeing the role of culture in a quite different light...

The Optics of Deer Vision

I’ve always noticed that the New York Times has some crazy articles listed under “most emailed.” Well, turns out people love emailing articles about things like the Optics of Deer Vision and Outer Space…I guess it makes them feel smarter.