Somewhere on my computer, I keep a collection of images of humans showing up in non-human contexts. These are contexts that are supposed to be sterile and devoid of humanity. If you’ve just wandered into my site on a search, that may sound like a rather odd hobby; if you’ve been here a while you’ve known for a long time that this is par for the course.
Anyway, it goes like this: I’m a lifelong devotee of secondhand shopping. Naturally, I’m a huge fan of the website thredUP. (Disclosure: that link is a referral link that’s worth $10 to us both if you’re a new customer). It’s a fantastic site for buying used women’s (and children’s) clothes, with lots of great features like saved searches and such. They’ve even featured me as one of the most fashionable women in the US, if you can believe that. They’re a fast-growing, tech-enabled company that went public earlier this year (more disclosure: I definitely bought some of those shares). And their efficient process for photographing the roughly 100K items that get merchandised to their storefront every day generally results in very high-quality photos of their items. In fact, they have a patent on that photography process.
But every now and then, when you’re not expecting to, you’ll see a human sneak into the photo. Just an arm, or a torso. It’s vaguely disconcerting but also kind of warm and humbling, a peek behind the curtain and a reminder that there are people behind so many processes we take for granted. (Note that the topic of “ghost workers” has come up repeatedly on The Tech Humanist Show.)
It’s also an example of what I like to call Digital Weirdness. And this one below strikes me as extra-weird in that they actually included it in their Instagram ad carousel.
I am, of course, not alone in having this hobby: Andrew Norman Wilson has a 2019 piece at WIRED about his collection of human hands showing up in Google Books scanned images. Enjoy.
McDonald's Netherlands faced backlash after pulling an AI-generated Christmas ad, highlighting a gap between AI output and consumer expectations for authenticity. Research indicates AI-produced...
The line between being a “Tech Humanist” as I define it and a tech ethics professional is pretty thin. My emphasis has been on...
“In most of our cities and our nation, we don’t prioritize human life [….] We’re prioritizing traffic and the movement of vehicles.” Source: Zero...
The way strategists and designers theorize about human experience — and specifically customer experience, which is humans in the contextual role of “customer” —...
One of the themes shaping my work this year is “the future of trust and truth.” In an era characterized by disagreement over basic...
Scratch the surface of any debate about the future of work and you’ll find there an argument for Universal Basic Income. And certainly from...
As we head into 2020, I’m still obsessed with the integration of human experience. My work over the last two decades in technology has...
I’m reminded by my memories on Facebook (yes, I still have Facebook for a variety of reasons — that’s a separate post) that it...
“The first question I ask myself when something doesn’t seem to be beautiful is why do I think it’s not beautiful. And very shortly...
Rather, the most interesting things about Pokemon Go have to do with connected experiences, and the sweeping changes these are bringing: new marketing models, opportunities with...
I often work at coffee shops. A lot of other people do, too, of course. But since it’s my nature to think about meaning and...
By using this form you agree with our Privacy Policy and the storage and handling of your data by this website.
info@koinsights.com
27 W 60th St #20560
New York, NY 10023-9991
By using this form you agree with our Privacy Policy and the storage and handling of your data by this website.
© 2026 KO Insights. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy.
Made with love by Unicorn Designer Studio.
