Kathryn Bouskill: The unforeseen consequences of a fast-paced world
Kathryn Bouskill's work explores how our health is shaped as much by our biology as it is by our behaviors and cultural contexts. Full bio
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with things that help us do everything
and do all of it all at the same time?
even more into every waking hour?
our minimum speed is Mach 3.
losing our competitive edge.
is starting to question
at the Rand Corporation,
study ancient cultures,
and how we're adapting
happening in the world.
Seifu Chonde, to study speed.
are adapting to this age of acceleration
keeps accelerating?
more secure and productive?
acceleration as inevitable,
of becoming obsolete.
burn out than rust out.
erode their cultural traditions
at the speed game
the gap between the haves,
that the future will be faster,
aren't really built for it,
and race cars and supersonic planes,
with incredible focus,
with great speed
between our biology and our lifestyles,
built for and what we're making them do.
"Stone Agers in the fast lane."
it can be measured objectively. Right?
new technologies is increasing.
from the introduction of the telephone
had phones at home.
for most of us to have smartphones.
different people within the same culture.
as pleasantly brisk and convenient
for a to-go cup at a Japanese tea ceremony
to your next tourist stop.
is that speed begets speed.
the more responses I get,
easier and more rational.
seem to be happening.
were supposed to free us from drudgery,
in record numbers,
to answer that text right away?
feel a little more fun
in the long run.
has major failures,
when we made decisions too quickly
or critical thinking required
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky,
to do something with their insights.
one spurt of acceleration after another.
if we just speed up enough,
to artificial intelligence
and smarter decisions
universe of data.
are no substitute
to let their impulses subside,
that we should just hit the brakes,
too fast around a bend can derail,
too slowly around a bend can also derail.
starts with the understanding
than we think we do,
ourselves to go faster.
for hurricane victims
what we need on the spot,
to make our surroundings feel slower
out of the speedy experience.
stimulated all the time.
but it gives us time to reflect.
what it means to save time.
build in slowness,
our shared values and connect.
a critical part of being human.
the trade-offs of any given technology.
can use to express your humanity?
Will it give other people hurry sickness?
that you want to travel through life,
both to speed up
the technologies of speed,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kathryn Bouskill - Anthropologist, social scientistKathryn Bouskill's work explores how our health is shaped as much by our biology as it is by our behaviors and cultural contexts.
Why you should listen
Kathryn Bouskill began her research as a teenager at the lab bench before developing an interest in how our health is shaped as much by our biology as it is by our behaviors and social and cultural contexts. Today, she is an anthropologist at the RAND Corporation and associate director of the RAND Center for Global Risk and Security, where she applies ethnographic methods to understand the human dimensions of systems analysis and policy research.
For more than a decade, Bouskill has explored the relationship between culture, technology, policy and health. She has performed research in ten countries on five continents and believes that everyone has an important story to tell. Her latest research asks how the acceleration of daily life is shaping our wellbeing, how different cultures make sense of a faster world and what we as a society risk if we do not plan ahead for the promises -- and perils -- of emerging technologies. Her work is publicly available and covers a range of topics, from the future of global health security to data use for decision-making in health care.
A former Fulbright scholar in Austria, Bouskill continues her passion for using cultural diplomacy to build international cooperation. She also teaches doctoral fellows at the Pardee RAND Graduate School how to turn policy problems into empirical research projects and why it is critical to bring people into policy analysis. Bouskill has a BA in anthropology from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in anthropology and an MPH in epidemiology from Emory University.
Kathryn Bouskill | Speaker | TED.com