words matter
A computer, meanwhile, remains more functional. Phrases like “desktop” and “taskbar” create a metaphor that this is a workstation; you have “trash” and “files.” Of course, there are still work-like aspects to the phone and home-like aspects to the computer, but the phone takes on a far more domestic role in our lives. It is not a utility: it is an
... See moreAdam Aleksic • Your Phone Is a Fake House
In his book, The Poetics of Space , the philosopher Gaston Bachelard argues that our intimate spaces are deeply intertwined with our imagination and sense of being. When you curl up in a comfortable nook in your home, for example, your consciousness is gathered inward. You have control over this small space, in contrast to the wild, turbulent
... See moreAdam Aleksic • Your Phone Is a Fake House
And yet this love is a projection. The phone creates a sensation of intimacy without providing true intimacy. On a rational level, we know this; but our actual experience happens in an ambient scroll state. Now there’s a dissonance between feeling like your phone is a home and knowing that it’s not.
Adam Aleksic • Your Phone Is a Fake House
I realized I never wanted to hear the terms ‘resources,’ ‘stewardship,’ or ‘sustainable’ ever again. For all the good intentions those endeavors have on their side, they do not describe any relationship I would want to be in. In those words we see control, possession, objectification, and manipulation. Ache and tenderness are another approach
... See moreNora Bateson • Small Arcs of Larger Circles
Just a moment...
What is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country? Is it hate of ones un-country? (LeGuin, 1969, p. 104)
Nora Bateson, Combining
The menu is an abstraction of the food. It is about the food—but it is not the food. Eating the menu makes for a flat and papery meal. The meal, by contrast, is interlocked within the vegetable garden, the culture of the chef, the conversation at the table, the nature of the occasion, the farmer's children, and the health of the prior and coming
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