Thanks for visiting my blog! This is a collection of almost everything I’ve published in the last two years. Click here to check out my work. Some main themes that guide my thinking and writing are (with articles for each):
- Social Media (read: “The Cosmetic Class”)
- The Internet, and networks, specifically (read: “An Economy of Desire”)
- Big Data (read: “The Death of Advertising”)
- Economics (read: “The Information Market“)
- Evolution (read: “The Power of the Unseen”)
Some of the authors and writers who have shaped my thinking and writing are:
- Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and Homo Deus
- Marshall McLuhan, media philosopher and author of many books, including Understanding Media
- Tim Wu, author of The Attention Merchants and The Master Switch
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Antifragile and The Black Swan
- Neil Postman, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World
Most recently, I’ve blogged about how companies can better market themselves by focusing not on their product, but on the person someone can be by using their product. That piece, “People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Better Versions of Themselves,” was featured on Medium and is approaching 100,000 views; it was also shared by General Assembly.
My most recent piece, “The Cosmetic Class,” was also featured on Medium. (They changed the title to “The Instagram Generation.”) In it, I discussed first how the complexity of modernity has turned us into a society that must focus on signals of reality as opposed to reality itself when making decisions (i.e. stereotyping). I then make the argument that Instagram’s popularity is a direct result of its being introduced to a signal-obsessed society: i.e. one that must, out of necessity, focus on image over substance.
If you’d like to contact me directly, the best way to do so is by email: zander@zandercutt.com. You can also reach out to me on Twitter: @zandercutt, or add me on Linkedin. Finally, subscribe to receive email updates from me by clicking here. No spam, just good content. And if you feel so compelled, you can support me on Patreon by clicking here.
Last, something you should know: I am a huge coffee person. (I don’t claim to know anything about coffee, I just drink a lot of it.) I also have been known to enjoy the occasional beer. If I had to pick between having one or the other for the rest of my life, I would choose coffee. Luckily, though, we don’t live in a world where I have to choose, so if you’re in Chicago (or the Bay Area, where I am relatively frequently), feel free to reach out and propose we grab either one, or simply go for a walk, or chat, substance-free. I am seriously open to whatever.
I look forward to hearing from you!
