Alain de Botton on how Aristotelean philosophy can influence product innovation

So I LOVE Alain de Botton (AdB). His book on status anxiety and pretty much any of his work is so spot on. It galvanizes me into a sort of truth beauty state that simply reinforces my adoration for his work.

I thought I was going to hear some of AdB’s bitter, sweet words on the general topic of the human condition in this video, but he went all modern day on me explaining that the psychology behind what we do or why we work has been untapped for quite awhile in favor of using only technology to explain our decisions.

Apparently it’s the combination of these two, the psychology and the technology, that could give us an Aristotelean advantage. He explains that by reframing a business’s purpose in terms how Aristotle would state their reason for existing is how companies like Airbnb and LinkedIn have been able to recategorize their mission to provide a deeper and more meaningful experience for their customers.

AdB can do such a good job of explaining our human-ness and then tie in how Facebook is really just the psycho-tech antidote for our ancient and chronic condition of loneliness and need for connection.

I say Alain de Botton for first ever, high-tech Chief Philosophy Officer!

video is 20 minutes