No, you’re weird

Ever noticed how most behavioral research is based on studies of Western, upper-middle-class, undergraduate university students? If you, like me, are American, it might never occur to you to wonder whether those results can really be generalized to describe the behavior of "people." After reading The weirdest people in the world? (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD)), you may want to go back through your favorite studies on decision-making, collaboration, cognition, and symbol interpretation and question your first read.

This paper also has pretty much the best opening paragraph of any academic paper ever. Fair warning: it's not SFW.

Perception of self-efficacy, and technology for developing countries

Kentaro Toyama, assistant director of Microsoft Research India, has spent a lot of time thinking about how to use technology to change social systems. He's focused on using technology to further development in rural India (ICT4D, or Information & Communications Technology for Developing Countries). He published a very cool set of essays in The Atlantic in 2011 about the topic. I've been thinking about them ever since. Check 'em out.

Kentaro talks about technology as basically an amplifier for people's will. Don't let the "virtue" language deter you; fully unpacked, it's a pretty loaded concept.

• Technology is not the answer
• The enduring power of virtue
• The white lie of the self-made person
• Entrenched cynicism
• Fostering virtue