8.1. Introduction

Since prehistoric times, technology has profoundly modified humankind, both physically and psychologically, as André Leroi-Gourhan demonstrated in 1945 in Le geste et la parole [Gesture and Speech]. Human evolution towards the standing position freed the upper limbs making them available for other functions, such as gripping and handling objects that gradually replace the hand. At the same time, the anatomy of the skull evolved, which also modified the brain. Propelling us forward to the present time, the Internet and related objects were initially only seen as tools, just like the flint that helped to forge the anatomy of the present hand. It is clear that this exponential evolution in technology, seen as a computer revolution, has upset the relationship of human beings to each other and to the world. Intellectuals, such as Pascal Picq [PIC 17], Nicolas Santolaria [SAN 17] or Yuval Novah Harari [HAR 17a], have launched Homo sapiens into a great new revolution from the tip of their fingers.

Innovation and technology make humankind’s confrontation with its ancestral enemies possible: for example, ageing and death through genetic selection, self-improvement and even the creation of entities in its image. These great enemies present in all cultures emancipate themselves from their mythological condition to become rivals in real life. They are no longer just part of the world of thought but are part of problems that have become real. The development of knowledge and technology “[engages us] in a paradoxical interplay between an increased sense of control over our future and an ever-increasing concern to be overtaken by the products of that knowledge” [KLE 13, p. 12]. Understanding these tensions means anticipating the place of objects in the daily lives of tomorrow’s consumers.

8.2. A collective unconscious faced with a diversity of material objects and cultures

In anthropology, surpassing the contemporary dichotomy between nature and culture [DES 06] leads to some central questions of the discipline: what differentiates humankind from the animal? Can human nature be isolated independently of any cultural context? In L’empreinte anthropologique [The Anthropological Footprint], Dominique Desjeux [DES 18] puts cultural diversity under the prism of the unity of humankind, not only to show the invariants of humanity under cover of some cultural particularities, but above all to highlight the impact of consumption in the evolution of cultural systems. The world of thought and the supernatural allows us to grasp a universality of the mechanisms of anthropological functioning where the boundaries between humans and animals are blurred to the benefit of a better understanding of the world and ourselves. In a life in society where the visible meets the invisible, the place of the object in modern societies allows us to understand the material culture of individuals and to objectify the new quest for meaning that animates postmodern consumers. To reconnect with magical thought in the West is to mobilize systems of unconscious yet transversal references to humanity, which are somehow reactivated by modernity. Material culture is thus understood in its symbolic dimension, where the cultural, both the producer and receiver of technical inventions and/or social innovations, also becomes a source of inspiration and understanding for industrial companies’ R&D teams. A culturalist approach to internal company innovation processes aims to make the link between a technical approach to innovation and the cultural anthropological foundations that place objects in a coherent socio-technical universe, ultimately enabling increased experiences to be offered to individuals. The socio-cultural anthropology of consumption and technical anthropology thus make it possible to objectify the importance of integrating know-how and knowledge from the social sciences into current issues concerning innovation. It is no longer just a question of observing a use or an individual in a situation, as “design thinking” proposes, but of objectifying the system of representations of individuals in a contextual manner in order to offer objects that are consistent between their thoughts and their uses.

The objectification of a reference system can be facilitated by the mobilization of anthropological myths (i.e. universal, present in all cultures but dressed in a different modernity according to the cultural areas and times in which they are mobilized), making it possible to position the individual (or a group) in a specific role, and/or to frame a more global reflective approach. For example, the myth of the divine rascal brings a decentering posture. The Trickster has different names depending on peoples and civilizations. It is particularly well known among Indigenous peoples in North America. Fripon is the French translation, but he can also be called Manabozo among the Algonquin people of North America, Loki in Scandinavian mythology, Coniraya in South America, etc. All these names refer to the same character who is at the same time a clown, a prankster and a malignant leprechaun, who cannot be taken seriously and is imbued with a perpetual ambivalence between good and evil. Paul Radin [RAD 56] (anthropologist), followed by Carl Gustave Jung [JUN 01] (psychologist), introduced this mythical character. The Trickster represents both the worst features of a society (he is a thief, deceiver, incest practitioner and cannibal) but he also represents innocence through play, cunning and farces. He is the symbol of absurd learning falling into his own traps. This paradoxical character by nature works on the following principle: “every quality or defect attributed to him automatically appeals to his opposite” [MAK 69, p. 34]. His social function, through his ambivalence, is the violation of taboos and the transgression of prohibitions: “Ethnographic observation shows that taboos, which are generally the object of the strictest respect, are sometimes deliberately violated by individuals who expect to obtain favorable results through their transgression” [MAK 69, p. 20]. Other myths, such as Animal Language, are also universal and can accompany a creative journey. From the Koran to the Bible, from Indigenous folk tales of North America to Moroccan folklore, it is always about a man who receives the gift of speaking to animals. He must not confide his secret to anyone under penalty of death. One day his wife catches her husband laughing at the joke of an ant at the bend of a path and asks him for an explanation. The man finds himself faced with a dilemma, that of confessing to his wife that he is laughing at a joke that an animal has played on him and dying, or lying to his wife and living, but losing her!

This seemingly insurmountable dilemma has intrigued the research teams of a French industrial company¹. The objective was to capitalize on the universality of myths in order to allow each participant to write a mini-mythology of modernity, coherent from an anthropological point of view and also from an industrial point of view.

This experiment involved 25 volunteer collaborators identified by links of inter-knowledge. They had to be the initiators of a request for an anthropological study carried out internally, not refractory to the humanities and social sciences² and be personally involved in reflection projects concerning the evolution of the small household appliance (Petit Electro-Ménager or PEM) market. All they had in common was that they were part of the company’s “innovation community”. The heterogeneous profiles (age, gender, seniority, responsibility, sector of activity) of the participants led to a decompartmentalization of skills and market visions. To accompany the process, Séverine Enjolras, visual anthropologist of consumption, and Nadine Decourt, an academic specializing in orality and popular cultures, were present during the experiment.

This creative detour proposed to these individuals, where each of its members plays the role of a sort of Trickster of innovation, questions how and why the myth of Animal Language allows the construction of disruptive use scenarios in the small household appliance sector. To give an account of the scientific and applied contributions of this experiment, we will first look at the approach mobilized for this experiment and the contribution of cinéma-vérité, then we will analyze the literary and factual outputs that were produced in order to test the device deployed against the prisms of the current context effects. In other words, our objective is to point out the links and gaps between the collective unconscious and new societal trends.

8.3. An immersive approach, a vehicle for decentering

To make an anthropological detour in a professional context in order to initiate a creative process of rupture requires the implementation of a singular immersion. To increase the effectiveness of this immersion, the alternation of differentiated times, especially during the writing phase, makes it possible to make intelligible what is not usually intelligible. Understanding animal language, talking to objects, living in a modern commonality, where there is unified communication between humans and robotic devices, for example, must be seen as a possible and probable scenario in the short term. This experiment was inspired by an anthropological phenomenon observed in all cultures, that of the ritual of inversion. This ritual is conducive to offering a space of freedom, and even play, to characters like the Trickster. More precisely, it is a certain category of rites “which accompany each change of place, state, social position and age” [JOU 01]: these are rites of passage. The inversion rite has a singular function. It creates order through disorder. During the sacred time of this rite, the established order of things is called into question through rituals of disguise(s), reversal(s) and experiences of disturbance in daily life or questioning of common sense. This typology of rituals takes various forms depending on the times and cultures, as well, from la fête des fous [the festival of madmen] in northern France, to carnivals, from the Potlatch of Indigenous societies in the American northwest to the Buddhist “crazy wisdom”, for example. The ritual of inversion is taken here as a game that can disrupt behavior, question certainties, open gaps in professional automatisms, as in everyday practices to explore other ways of doing and being. The intermingling between the immersive approach and the ritual of anthropological inversion is equivalent to constructing an “artificial” framework to produce a “new creative reality” or a form of “truth” of which the actors were unaware or did not allow themselves to think as possible. The use of classical anthropological methods and tools through the mobilization of the myth of the language of animals, on the one hand, and the transmission to participants of a new interpretation of reality through the explanation of individual behavior by culture, on the other, provides a perspective on the different levels of reflection required by the design of products, services or experiences for an industrialist company such as Groupe SEB.

Thus, this experiment is based on a research methodology which, based on the representations of the actors and not primarily on objective reality, aims to understand the meaning that the actors give to fear and risk in relation to their daily lives. It draws its inspiration from the methods developed by anthropologist Jean Rouch and his cinema action, as well as from the experimental protocols of psycho-sociology of the 1960s. The observation of practices makes it possible to highlight the constraints that explain the gap, weak or strong, between representations and practices, between a declaration of opinion or value and a real practice. This immersive phase depicts an individual who propels us at the heart of his emotions, between detachment and affect. Understanding the complexity of individual and collective “cognitive dissonances” that directly impact consumption and everyday life is not reducible to observing a use, but requires a holistic approach made of multiple interweaving. This method makes it possible to zoom out the current focus of observation while trying to answer the following question: what sense does this actor of innovation want to give to the future of the products he or she designs? This method is based on three fundamental pillars:

1. 1) Methodological creativity: producing an experimental shock (comfort zone, decentering, removing masks) and adapting the protocol according to the participants’ reactions.
2. 2) Reconnecting with time: alternating observation time, self-analysis, group meetings, co-construction, which allow us to enter quite deeply into human thought.
3. 3) Anthropological detour: grasp the logic of contradictory actors of individuals by agreeing to detach themselves from the brand and the product in the first place.

8.4. The experience of the cabinet of curiosities where the experience of writing is renewed

8.4.3. Orality and writing as creative drivers

Various workshops marked out this initiation into the universe of the tale. The first half-day was entitled “stories in chains and rooted”. The objective was to bring participants closer together while introducing them to the anthropology of storytelling, the concept, the object of study and the method proposed by the storytelling specialist [DEC 99]. Each participant was given a story. In pairs, each had to tell the other his story. All the participants then met in a circle, seated on the floor. Everyone had to tell the story reported by their partner.

The afternoon was dedicated to a workshop on storytelling and the sharing of a literary corpus. It was a question of getting to know, followed by sharing in small groups, the cultural variants of the same tale in order to make a comparative chart of the different variants of this tale. The story anthropologist asked participants to compare five cultural variations of the myth of Animal Language. The aim of this exercise was to develop an understanding of the structure and main themes of the story. We perceive humankind’s relationship with animals, spirituality, the supernatural and magic. It also makes it possible to measure human cultural diversity, particularly by geographical area. This diversity also makes it possible to identify the invariants of human nature, regardless of time or culture. We thus find the cultural dualities of tradition/modernity and diversity/unity. The participants tried to objectify the differences and similarities between the different versions of the tale and delivered researched analyses, testifying to the richness and inventiveness of group work (see Figures 8.1 and 8.2). These ancestral stories, transmitted orally, reveal the deepest fears and hopes of humanity.

This T670 (a folk tale classification system) tale narrative structure [DEC 99] thus bears witness to the opposition between the human and animal worlds. It reminds us of the complicated relationship that humankind has with human finiteness (life and death). By extension, and from an anthropological point of view, objectifying the essence of the myth is a chance for the experiment’s participants to understand all the societal elements to be taken into account in the elaboration of a myth, a tale, a story or a scenario of use.

The second morning was dedicated to the goal of objectifying the system of storytelling transformation and to sharing the comparative chart produced in a group with all the participants. The afternoon proceeded with an exercise involving the identification of the essential structure of certain tales followed by using the rewrite rule to create a new tale using the same essential structure of the original. All participants wrote together with the help of anthropologists. The instructions were simple: armed with the rewriting rule, individuals must create postmodern tales, without obligation of direct links with the universe of small household appliances (the aforementioned company’s product line). Only one constraint was given: the group writing of these tales must be inspired by a myth, drawn and randomly assigned to each group: Prometheus, ecocentrism³, Superman⁴ and the woman of tomorrow⁵. Social phenomena that are prevalent in the myths proposed to the participants include: the relationship to progress through the impact of technology in everyday life, the influence of food on individual health but also on ecology, the relationship to oneself and to success in a context of increasing professional uncertainty and professional exhaustion, and the media’s appreciation of women’s place in society. The aim was to bring together imagination and innovation issues. The written stories break with the usage scenarios traditionally developed in creative sessions by the members of the experiment. Participants are no longer asked only to project themselves in the use of a product, but in the writing of a projective “story” in which disruptive objects are integrated.

8.5. Mini-mythologies of modernity that fit into current societal issues

Despite the different angles imposed for the writing, and due to the random assigning of the myths that accompanied the writing exercise, common traits referred to similar societal aspirations. These themes reflect the growing sensitivity of individuals to sustainable development, ecology, the environment, female values, psycho-spirituality and societal commitment. The monitoring agency of food ethics set up in 2017 by ObSoCo with the support of Groupe SEB reports on changes in ethical concerns that are changing eating habits or at least leading individuals to question their place in society [HAR 17b]. It seems that the positioning of Groupe SEB’s objects is tending to evolve in the imagination of individuals. From a retrospective point of view, from products representing modernity and social innovation, we have moved on to a product representing French know-how and tradition as with the famous Cocotte Minute [pressure cooker], for example. The products imagined during this experiment propel Groupe SEB into a new relationship with technology that is rocked by science fiction and rooted in new societal issues and human fears [HAR 17b].

The intelligence developed in these stories makes it possible to support and help the human being to live better in society. This facilitation of being is reflected in the capture of emotions. Technology is adorned with unreal attributes to paradoxically fit into reality: the mobilization of sensors makes it possible to adapt a functionality or an experience to the user’s state of mind. In the participants’ projection of this experience, technology is not only virtuous and at the service of the individual’s well-being, but also omniscient and omnipresent. By being able to capture emotions to adapt to the individual but also to the products that will be consumed, the technology imagined allows a new evolution of the very perception of a product, a service or an experience.

The controlled autonomy of technology through its ability to adapt its services in an experiential way generates a renewal of the relationship to objects in the everyday life of a Westerner. “Talking to a product”, representing “the soul of objects” is not innate for a European, sending us back to notions of animism seemingly far removed from everyday French life. On the contrary, it’s banal for a Japanese. In the Japanese context, spirituality expresses “a sensitivity and sensation of the invisible and supernatural entity or force (anonymous divinity) that defines a holistic universe, as well as through the unity of humanity and the universe with the knowledge and respect that flow from it” [BER 00, p. 70]. There would exist different expressions of these beliefs, “between ethical (legitimate sacred) religions and manipulative religions” [BER 00, p. 75]. Following a dynamic similar to the phenomenon observed in France [PAR 16], a return to magical thinking would mark the importance of reducing the cognitive dissonances with which individuals must deal on a daily basis. These practices would aim to “fill a solitude, a feeling of distress, anxiety and boredom in a society of abundance where the poverty of easily identifiable landmarks is strongly felt” [BER 00, p. 80].

This “magic” dimension conferred on the objects of modernity leads us back to the phenomenon observed by Bronisław Malinowski about the use of magic by the Trobrian people: “magical beliefs appear to counter the uncertainty of human endeavors, strengthen trust, reduce anxiety and provide a way out of an apparent impasse” [MER 97, p.63]. For Claude Lévi-Strauss, magic is first of all intellectual; it is a situation of anguished interlocution with the world:

It is necessary to see in magical behaviors the response to a situation that reveals itself to the consciousness through emotional manifestations, but whose profound nature is intellectual. For only the history of the symbolic function would make it possible to account for this intellectual condition of humankind, which is that the universe never means enough, and that thought always has too many meanings for the quantity of objects to which it can hang on to. Torn between these two systems of references, that of the signifier and that of the signified, humankind asks magic thought to provide it with a new system of reference within which hitherto contradictory data can be integrated. [LEV 58, p. 79]

This new reference system positions technology as an integral part of human life. Thus, a group imagines a story in which a young man wishes to conquer the heart of a beautiful unknown woman in his neighborhood. These are the objects that come to his aid, reviving the narratology specific to the morphology of the tale, as studied by Vladimir Propp. The experience enables individuals to allow themselves a detour, perceived as creative for them, but which is part of a well-known narrative tradition: that of using objects to accomplish a mission. The data collected by the connected products she uses, and which are stored in the cloud, allow the young man to know her tastes and habits, and adapt his seduction technique. The strategy pays off because the end of this story ends with a marriage. Another story features a woman who has the gift of talking to vegetables, which gives her an exceptional talent for preparing the dishes she offers in her restaurant. It is this exchange with “the living” that makes her a standout leader. Attracting the jealousy of a competitor, it is these same vegetables and the objects of her kitchen that will act as “conscience” to bring the two protagonists to work together rather than against each other. Still other stories stage a domestic entity following an oracle-like principle⁶ to imagine a pervasive innovation [BAC 11] where, through the capture of emotions present in a room, the entity would be able to adapt its range of products, services or experiences to best meet the expressed or latent needs of the individual. This can be expressed by the proposal of “ionic care” or by taking the initiative to send an autonomous car to the airport to pick up a family member. In this experiment, technology is used to support intelligence. At the same time above humankind, and also at its service, it is nevertheless integrated into daily life.

The strategies devised by the teams during this experiment, particularly with regard to food, testify to a search for self-renewal. This self-renewal can be approached from two points of view: the first emphasizing the dimension of reflexivity that invites the individual to question the sense or meaning of his or her own life, and the second where the “restoration of an authentic self” means that the lived experience allows the individual to recover a meaning or a lost meaning [LAD 99].

8.6. When technique meets mythology towards a first approach of materialization of modernity stories

This prototyping phase took place in Groupe SEB’s “Fab Lab” (fabrication laboratory⁷), eight days after the 48-hour workshop. The day was divided into several phases: following the rewriting of the stories and highlighting of the key concepts by anthropologists; more specific variation to accompany the teams in a deepening of a narrative passage of the story to lead to the scenario of use; the design of an object or service and the materialization of the product or service imagined; technical realization thanks to the tools made available by the SebLab⁸. For example, “a common and shared intelligence between devices and services in the form of a universal interface understandable by all at a glance” was imagined. The team described it as an oracle eye, an entity that assists consumers to participate in their well-being. Thanks to universal color coding, recipe tracking and the operation of household appliances, it appears much simpler and intuitive. We can find in the name given (EVE for mini-mythology and EVEO for materialization), the myth of the creation of Adam and Eve. When presenting their imagined product (not created materially), the team speaks of an organ of life that is not necessarily material. Indeed, “the surface materializes recognizing its interlocutor and takes the form that only it knows. A flashing area on the surface indicates that a self-contained car has been waiting for her mother-in-law at the airport, and suggests some menu ideas for tonight’s dinner, sure to please everyone. Eve chooses the recipe. Missing ingredients are immediately ordered and received by drone. When it is time to start cooking, Eve is informed of the recipe and the actions to be carried out”. All the chores are done independently (unpacking, cleaning, peeling, cutting). She is just finishing her task when the surface displays her mother-in-law on the intercom. The evening is a harmonious one. Keywords and hashtags accompany this creation: #without settings #simplification interface #first contact #Eye #intelligence #emotion #oracle #follow-up #benevolence #progression #passivity #information #live #filament #automation #at a glance #the end of the step by step.

Others imagine an object equipped with sensors to measure the emotions of the consumer in order to meet their needs by offering them adapted services, for example an invigorating juice when a diet is detected or a healthy and balanced dish after discrepancies noted on the scale. “You look a little feverish! Your cells aren’t regenerating as well as yesterday”, the scale would indicate. “From what the scales say, you don’t seem very fit…May I offer you a little tonic soup?” the stewpot of the future would react. This type of solution aims to decompartmentalize the silo operation of household appliances and create a single language common to all appliances. The group specifies that “the language of objects [there] is the same as that of humankind”. It speaks of “decentralized architecture”. Once again, we find the concept of pervasive intelligence (omnipresent, ambient), which approaches the attributes vested in God(s).

Food is at the heart of all the proposed use scenarios, which raises questions because the participants had to write a tale around very diverse myths (Prometheus, ecocentrism, Superman, woman of tomorrow). Focusing on this theme can reveal food’s emotional and essential aspect since according to the title of a book by Jane Goodall [GOD 12], we are what we eat. Lévi-Strauss also stated that “it is not enough for a food to be good to eat, it must also be good to think” [LEV 65, p. 103]. Moreover, industrial scandals (e.g. mad cow, bird flu, the Spanghero affair (horse meat in ready-made meals)) also contribute to an anxiogenic climate. The ecological struggle (climatic and environmental) in relation to “organic”⁹, vegan, and vegetarian movements add to the confusion and diversion of consumers. This disorder can thus lead to a “double-consumption” phenomenon [PAR 17].

8.7. From an anthropological perspective to a corporate innovation culture

An experiment of this type is part of an overall innovation approach for a company, particularly adapted to the upstream phases, for example. In the short term, the various projects resulting from the workshop must (wholly or in part) be integrated into the ongoing research projects of Groupe SEB laboratories. For example, “EVEO” is part of a breakthrough innovation project to offer a digital and connected experience of women’s styling routines. This omniscient intelligence takes shape through the intermediary of an “oracle” (foot-controlled touch tablet in mirror mode) which, thanks to augmented reality allows an optimal accompaniment of beauty routines, aiming at personalized diagnoses. The integration of the variables apprehended during this workshop is part of a transition logic, between an ethnological study carried out in individuals’ homes in 2017 and which made it possible to identify the problems linked to the material and symbolic culture of women in their relationship to the body, and between phases of validation of internal research processes. The principle of the “oracle” has emerged from a double observation: whatever the diversity of use situations encountered by women in styling, the mirror is the element that is always present (underused, it can with technology take on new functions). The workshop allowed the implementation of a mythology around it: from the oracle mirror present in Snow White’s tale to the symbolism of Samson’s hair, through the integration of the collective unconscious as a tool of innovation and circumvention of existing brakes. In the medium term, this experience breaks innovation silos and enables individuals to become “resource persons” for other Groupe SEB entities with which they do not directly work for. Finally, in the long term, this experience enables employees to adopt a global innovation approach that is not only “user-centered” but truly centered on the human being.

Innovation is not self-evident and is not innate. Being innovative in an industrial environment in a postmodern and Western society requires not only thinking outside the box but also using anthropology as a lever of cognitive brakes. The experience presented here illustrates a double problem inherent in so-called disruptive innovation. The first is that of methods and the renewal of tools made available to R&D teams to innovate. This experimental protocol proposes a possible solution for aiding teams in the discovery of a creative detour. The second problem refers to anthropological questions concerning the creative issues surrounding these breakthrough innovations aimed at proposing intelligent technical systems or robots that are increasingly intelligent and integrated into the daily lives of individuals. The creation of robots and their integration into human life thus raises the question of their status in relation to humans and animals and questions about the differences that separate humans from animals and animals from plants: consciousness, history, culture and emotions. Today, scientific work proves that some animals use tools, are able to pass the mirror stage (by recognizing themselves in a mirror) and can feel empathy for other animals. The status of humankind, and in particular its superiority over other animals, is called into question.

Thus, the anthropological detour proposed through the myth of Animal Language was not insignificant. It offered Groupe SEB’s R&D teams a fresh look at creative processes through a double reflection: an individual reflection through a methodology that leads to personal reflexivity while erecting unconscious personal beliefs as the breeding ground of a new industrial creativity. Last but not least, this experience leads each participant to reflect on their own humanity and on the place they want to give technology in the daily life of tomorrow. Myths, seen as the intangible heritage of humanity, make it possible to embed culture in technology, leading to the development of a new technical culture while strengthening and/or creating new links between technical culture and innovation culture [CHO 17].