Michael Frachetti is a Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. His current projects include studies of medieval Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan and ancient maritime trade throughout SE Asia and Indian Ocean.

https://artsci.wustl.edu/faculty-staff/michael-frachetti

4:00 - Intro

7:00 - Contemporary value of information

9:00 - Real deal facts vs. Audience-friendly content

11:20 - Authenticity of Wikipedia

14:00 - It takes forever to fact check now

16:45 - Knowing how to talk to people

18:45 - Older generations strive for a longer childhood for their children

22:30 - Captain Fantastic

23:00 - The Tech Age

25:00 - There’s no more remoteness

32:00 - Generational differences

33:15 - Instagram over-saturation

36:30 - Getting too “preachy” on captions

38:00 - What should social media be used for?

49:00 - Growing up with martial arts

50:00 - Seven Samurai

55:00 - Meeting his archaeology mentor

59:00 - Geographical Information Systems defined

1:03:45 - Focusing on nomads

1:15:00 - What is the purpose of Archaeology?

1:17:00 - Re-contextualizing data from the perspective of different identities

1:21:00 - Redefining what “civilization” means

1:24:30 - Doug North on Institutions

1:26:00 - Similarities between the lived experience in individuals

1:29:00 - Audience for his new book

1:31:30 - David Wengrow

1:33:30 - The Utopian Paradox TEDx Talk

1:39:00 - Shifting focus after publishing

1:44:00 - Does popularity affect findings in archaeology?

1:49:30 - Upside and downside of Guns, Germs & Steel

1:51:00 - Michael Pollan

1:52:00 - Developing writing skills

1:55:00 - Nuance is necessary

1:58:00 - Outro