Anthropology is the study of what it means to be human. The term \u201canthropology\u201d literally means the study of humans (anthropos is Greek for humanity). We are often fascinated with other people and even fascinated with ourselves, and why shouldn\u2019t we be? After all, within each human skull lies the human brain, which neuroscientist Christof Koch calls the most complex thing in the known universe (Flatow 2013). With our incredible brains we can strive to know the world around us as well as ourselves. Knowing ourselves is the central challenge of anthropology<\/a>.<\/p>\n We also learn to adapt to our environments culturally. To live in extreme arctic conditions, we do not need a biological adaptation<\/a> like thick pelt of fur; we simply learn to sew a coat, build a shelter, and make fire. Because of the flexibility of culture, more than any other organism, we humans are able to occupy all environments of the planet from deserts to polar regions to the oceans and beyond the Earth itself. What\u2019s more, culture and biology are not separate and distinct systems but are rather intertwined (Sapolsky 2017). All traits are both genetic and environmental. We\u2019ll discuss how this can be in Chapter 8.<\/p>\n In Pulitzer Prize finalist David Foster Wallace\u2019s \u201cWhat is water?\u201d commencement address (Sullivan 2013) he tells a simple story: \u201cThere 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, \u2018Morning boys, how\u2019s the water?\u2019 The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, \u2018What the hell is water?\u2019\u201d What\u2019s true for fish in water is also true for human culture.<\/p>\n The anthropological perspective not only helps us understand the world around us, but also can help us be better scientists, artists, and human beings. Steve Jobs once said \u201cCreativity is just connecting things\u2026the broader one\u2019s understand of the human experience, the better design we will have.\u201d Though anthropologists<\/a> are not in the business of creating new technologies, the idea behind the value of diverse experiences is the same. When we limit who we interact with or automatically reject certain ways of doing things, we limit our creative potential and ability to solve problems. By keeping our minds open to new ways of doing things and different people, we can understand other people better, understand ourselves better, and increase our ability to solve serious problems facing our world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Culture We Swim In<\/h3>\n