For an impressionable young oriental, steeped in Chinese classics, and schooled in the occidental literatures, Dr. Temperance Brennan, the fictional character created by Kathy Reichs in Bare Bones, is most impressive in her ability to solve the most elaborate crimes in employing acute observation and forensic anthropology. Her unique ability to extrapolate future behavior from the past patterns is simply awesome. I never thought one can derive so much from someone’s ethnicity and cultural background. After witnessing Dr Brennan’s amazing feats of sifting through individual quirks and idiosyncrasies to zero in on the culprits, I became a steadfast fan and convert. Forensic anthropology became my calling.

I believe most of us are born anthropologists and naturalists. Nothing comes more naturally to children than observing, probing and provoking adults or centipedes. As I have lost none of my childhood fascinations, my early antics have blossomed into passions for social and natural sciences. And Reich’s captivating words make combing both of my interests into something tangible and tantalizing.

Good fortune and fortuity have exposed me to varied cultures with all their unique charms and idiosyncrasies. Seeing how the Japanese would bow instead of kiss twice on the cheeks like the French do to bid farewell whetted my inquisitiveness. I want to probe deeper. I want to know how cultures, traditions and rituals develop. Why is ancestral worship so dominant in Chinese culture and so rare in the west? Why is patriarchy the dominant social form while some of the advanced economies seem to be drifting back towards matriarchy? Will globalization completely homogenize traditional cultures?

If I am fascinated by the past, I am equally troubled by our future. With technologies and economic changes galloping forward in unprecedented rates, our cultures and societies will see wholesale transformations. Could cultural evolution keep pace? Would the majority of us attain some resemblance of “happiness” or “contentment”? Would this historical change be the cultural equivalent of the globalized financial crisis we almost did not survive?

But don’t take me for a Luddite. If I am alarmed by the downsides of unfettered technological changes, I am even more enthused about the upsides of judicious scientific progress. I am an ardent student of sciences, mesmerized by the beauty of number theories and the mystery of special relativity. I admire the dedication, imagination and creativity involved in the discovery process. I just don’t want to be a technocrat. Technocrats of this world may bring science and technology to a new level, but with anthropology, my passion for science can be used to serve mankind, benefiting the world instead of ruining it, because of blind scientific ambition.

The past helps the present and will tell the future. Anthropology embodies the three time periods and combs my passions into one. And that’s why I want to study it. 

And yes, it is necessary to know someone’s past to know who he or she is today. But it is far more important to know who he or she wants to be in the future.