Essays

I believe globalization is forcing our brains to evolve.

I’ve had the privilege to see a lot more of the world than anyone my age could reasonably hope to. A few years ago, on a backpacking trip, I made a video of myself dancing terribly in exotic locations. I put it on my web site. Some friends started passing it around, and soon millions of people had watched it. I was offered sponsorship to continue my accidental vocation, and since then I’ve made two more videos that include 70 countries on all seven continents. A lot of people wanted to dance along with me, so I started inviting them to join in everywhere I went, from Toronto to Tokyo to Timbuktu.

Here’s what I can report back: People want to feel connected to each other. They want to be heard and seen, and they’re curious to hear and see others from places far away. I share that impulse. It’s part of what drives me to travel. But it’s constantly at odds with another impulse, which is to reduce and contain my exposure to a world that’s way too big for me to comprehend.

My brain was designed to inhabit a fairly small social network of maybe a few dozen other primates—a tribe. Beyond that size, I start to get overwhelmed.

And yet here I am in a world of over six billion people, all of whom are now inextricably linked together. I don’t need to travel to influence lives on the other side of the globe. All I have to do is buy a cup of coffee or a tank of gas. My tribe has grown into a single, impossibly vast social network, whether I like it or not. The problem, I believe, isn’t that the world has changed, it’s that my primitive caveman brain hasn’t.

I am fantastic at seeing differences. Everybody is. I can quickly pick out those who look or behave differently, and unless I actively override the tendency, I will perceive them as a threat. That instinct may have once been useful for my tribe but when I travel, it’s a liability.

When I dance with people, I see them smile and laugh and act ridiculous. It makes those differences seem smaller. The world seems simpler, and my caveman brain finds that comforting.

I believe my children will have brains ever so slightly better suited to the vast complexity that surrounds us. They will be more curious, more eager to absorb and to connect.

And I believe when they look into eyes of strangers, what they will see before the differences are the things that are the same.

March 10, 2023

Connecting to a Global Tribe

Matt Harding has been to 70 countries to dance–badly–in front of a camera, and videos of his travels are an Internet sensation. Harding believes interacting with so many people is challenging his primitive brain to see more of what unites humanity.
February 7, 2023

Treating Everyone As Family

Madeleine Urbaszewski wasn't born in New Orleans, but she has called it home since moving there in the fourth grade. Because she has experienced warmth and friendliness from the people there, including perfect strangers, Ms. Urbaszewski has come to believe in treating everyone like family.
February 1, 2023

Standing Up to Injustice

Rosa Parks became known as the "first lady of civil rights" when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus for a white passenger. Ms. Parks believed that standing up to injustice was her path toward true freedom.
December 27, 2022

The Designated Celebrator

Holiday gatherings mean long hours for Melinda Shoaf: polishing the silver, hanging the decorations, cooking the big dinner. But the Memphis homemaker believes her family deserves a good celebration.
December 16, 2022

It’s Better to Give…and Receive

Like many of us, Lisa Dunlap had always heard the adage that it's better to give than to receive. But having been on the receiving end of many acts of kindness, Ms. Dunlap has come to believe that while it is indeed good to give, it's also good to receive.
December 13, 2022

Why I Close My Restaurant

San Francisco restaurateur George Mardikian tells of his immigration from Eastern Europe to the United States, and he explains how he tries to repay the warm embrace Americans have given him.
November 21, 2022

Rice for Thanksgiving

Many people have a favorite Thanksgiving dish. It’s not turkey or pumpkin pie for Jocelyn Fong, but something that combines American tradition with her father’s Chinese heritage. Fong believes her simple dish helps her connect with her mix of cultures.
November 13, 2022

The Power of Hello

When he was a child, Howard White’s mother taught him the importance of greeting people. Now an executive at Nike, White believes everyone he meets deserves to have their presence and their humanity acknowledged. For him that begins with “hello.”
November 4, 2022

We Will See the Job Through

Iraq War veteran Michael J. Whitehead shares some of the lessons he learned on the battlefield in Iraq, about the strength of the Iraqi people, and the importance of leaving the country in better shape than he found it.