May 15, 2020What are “entheogens”?This month, an article I wrote about the word “entheogen” was published by Double Blind, a new magazine about psychedelics. I’ve been fascinated by the growing popularity of this term for a while. It represents, to me, a subtle but significant disagreement within the psychedelic underground about what these substances…2 min read2 min read
Feb 24, 2020The anthropology of DIY mycology: introductionThe sudden development and frequently strange appearance of the fruit-bodies of larger fungi and modules have always attracted attention. - G. C. Ainsworth, Introduction to the History of Mycology I wandered into the world of amateur mycology by accident. My original dissertation topic was urban farming but a month into…Mycology12 min readMycology12 min read
Published inThe Startup·Feb 24, 2020Fungi and mycology: a very short introductionThe first thing to learn about fungi is that mushrooms, although commonly conflated with fungi, are actually only the fruit body of a fungus. The rest of the fungus is a network of filaments one-cell thick (between 2 to 10 µm in diameter!). These filaments are called hyphae or hyphal…Mycology7 min readMycology7 min read
Oct 17, 2019Digital identity and biometrics in Africa, Part 2: risks & questions[Read Part 1 here.] Now I’ll move on to the arguments against digital identity systems. These arguments are less about digital identity per se and more about digital biometric identification specifically. The most strident critiques of biometric identity systems come from NGOs whose missions are the defense of digital security…Digital Identity13 min readDigital Identity13 min read
Oct 17, 2019Digital identity and biometrics in Africa, Part 1: hopes & promisesThis is part of a series summarizing research I did for Dovetail Labs. I had two purposes in writing up this research for a general audience. One, to present an overview that is wide-reaching and complex. In this regard, I went for breadth rather than depth. Two, to identify significant…Africa17 min readAfrica17 min read
Oct 3, 2019Dovetail Labs: introductionThis past winter, I had the opportunity to work with Dovetail Labs, a consulting firm founded by cultural anthropologists that specializes in the ethics of artificial intelligence. However, my two assignments were not on AI directly but on adjacent, related technologies, and they not have been more dissimilar from each…Digital Identity2 min readDigital Identity2 min read
Published inMycoWorks Radio·Jul 20, 2016What is myco-technology? A view from the MycoWorks studioMushroom cultivation is strange to most people; myco-technology, even stranger. “It’s like tending to skin in a way,” says Nick. “It feels like a combination between surgery and cooking.” He pauses and then asks the others, “If it was a combination of things, what would it be?” “Cooking,” says Ita…Biotechnology5 min readBiotechnology5 min read
Published inMycoWorks Radio·Jul 14, 2016The anthropology of the myco-revolutionWhen I tell people I’m an anthropologist researching a community in the SF Bay Area, they’re sometimes puzzled. “Aren’t you supposed to be studying an obscure tribe in the Amazon?,” they ask me. At that point, I explain that since the 1960s anthropologists now study a broad variety of people…Organic4 min readOrganic4 min read
