Human Universals

Alan Kay has a succinct answer to the question: “what should we work on?”

He cites the work of anthropologist Donald Brown, who documented what values all observed human cultures have in common. Here’s a few of more than 300:

• social
• language
• communication
• culture
• fantasies
• stories
• tools and art
• superstition
• religion and magic
• case based learning
• theatre
• play and games
• differences over similarities
• quick reactions to patterns
• loud noises and snakes
• supernormal responses
• vendetta

Non-universals:

• reading and writing
• deductive abstract mathematics
• model based science
• equal rights
• democracy
• perspective drawing
• theory of harmony
• similarities over differences
• slow deep thinking
• agriculture
• legal systems

His argument: find one of these needs not currently met by a technology, and see if computers can perform of help facilitate the work.

https://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-alan-kay-said-about-universals-non.html https://web.archive.org/web/20101114133905/http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/864_reg_print.html http://notebook.maryrosecook.com/Humanuniversals.html