James L. Halperin, “those of our ancient ancestors who managed to accumulate scarce objects may have been more prone to survive long enough to bear offspring.”

One of those reasons is scarcity and the search for value, whether that’s emotional or monetary. We all know the basic scarcity principle: the less available something is, the more valuable it becomes.

A collector may have met other collectors, and decided to nurture positive connections and increase their sense of belonging in a group. They may take pleasure in talking about their acquisitions, and enjoy the bonds they develop as a result.

people collect to keep those things accessible to them whenever they need it.

Curating content means collecting passages, clippings, and quotes that will be useful to you in the short and long term. In essence, it means collecting knowledge from various reliable sources.

In web highlighters, all users share the same pleasure: collecting excerpts about topics of their interest, from people whose works they admire. It’s the place where they can find their “tribe”.

We are what we collect, and we collect what we are.