“If you’re trying to understand people’s motivations, whether it’s to buy a used car or pick up someone in a bar, you’re trying to read them and read context and the situation… One principle of a lot of behavioural research is that human behaviour and motivations change very slowly, but how they appear on the surface is different,” he says. “I like to think that, even if I don’t know what the future context is, I know what will drive people’s logic in that future.

He offers two examples. Why do roadside petrol sellers in Afghanistan stand their canisters of petrol on piles of bricks? Because it makes it easier to pipe the fuel into cars and it advertises the service. Why are fake dental braces a popular fashion statement for teenage girls in Thailand? Because implying that their parents can afford expensive dentistry elevates the girls’ social position — even if the conceit is phoney. There’s a common thread: advertising intentions to other people. Once you understand that link, Chipchase says, you might be able to predict — or shape — what the future will look like.”

-Jan Chipchase, quoted in a Wired UK article on Shanzai. Photo also from the Wired article.