Michael Henderson describes himself as atrocious with technology. So why has an anthropologist become surprisingly good at using AI?
Michael traces the answer back to something his anthropology professor noticed about him decades ago. He was struggling in many of his university subjects, but consistently getting top marks in anthropology. The difference wasn’t how much he knew.
This is a short extract from our On Experience conversation. Michael tells the story of an assignment that earned him an A+ and what it revealed about the way anthropologists are trained to think.
It also raises an interesting question about the use of Ai: As answers become easier to find, what becomes more valuable?
Edited Transcript
Michael Henderson: One of the things I’ve just found that I’ve become particularly adept at, because I’m normally terrible with all forms of technology, like atrocious. One of the things that struck me and it’s really caught my attention, my whole family is going, how are you
doing this? I found myself to be exceptionally good at prompting Ai.
And so I had to sit down because my son was going, you of all people, right? How is this possible? So I’ve been helping him by learning it. And he said, what’s going on, Dad? What’s that all about? I went, yeah, that’s a really good question. Let me have a think about it. So I kind of came back to him a couple of days later.
I went, it’s the anthropology training. We are drilled not to know the answer, but to find the right question.
Geoff McDonald: Yeah.
Michael Henderson: It’s how I realized that maybe anthropology was a pathway for me because at university I was average to significantly below average. And most of the subjects I studied, I was getting C- and Ds on a regular basis in a variety of different subjects. But in anthropology I was getting regular As and A+.
So I went to see the mad professor and said, mate, I need your help here. I dunno what’s going on. I seem to be doing really, really well in your classes and the other anthropology
class and all the others I’m really, really struggling with. He said, yeah, well that’s because you’re ignorant.
And I went, well that’s a bit rough. And he went, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. You’ve
misinterpreted what I’ve said. He said, say the word ignorant and slow it down. It’s ignore-ant.
Geoff McDonald: Which means you’re ignoring things rather than not knowing.
Michael Henderson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went, okay, talk me through that. And he said, well, what you are really, really good at is asking questions ’cause you don’t know the answer. So he pulled out one of my essays and he showed it to me and I got an A+ for this essay.
We were supposed to write a minimum of 1500 words on a topic. I can’t remember what it was, but it was something like, What are the contributing factors to the Zulu ceremony of blah,
blah, blah, being a rich gathering and reinforcement of Zulu culture and belonging?
And my answer was, I have no idea, I haven’t spent time with the Zulu. But if I ever do here
are three questions I’d like to ask them. I got an A+ for that.
Geoff McDonald: Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Michael Henderson: And his response was, that’s good anthropology.
Geoff McDonald: I can hear the lens. It’s like the architect walking in, what could I have
done with the roof? What do I need to ask these people?
Michael Henderson: Yeah.
Geoff McDonald: And fundamentally it’s based on the willingness to learn. But principally curiosity, that you’re going in there to find out. I don’t know what the hell is going to happen, but let’s go and find out.
Michael Henderson: Absolutely right.
More from On Experience and Michael Henderson
If you’d like to explore On Experience and Michael Henderson’s insights, then you might like to read these posts next:
- The full On Experience conversation with Michael Henderson
- What an Anthropologist taught me about Experience – with Michael Henderson
- Why Experts Notice Things You Don’t with Michael Henderson
