words matter
“To fit in with the change of events, words, too, had to change their usual meanings. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member. To think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt... See more
L. M. Sacasassubstack.comA 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
“For the past few years, I have had to ask myself a question I never asked before in my life: What should we call the era we’re living in today?” our columnist Thomas Friedman asks. There’s no consensus as of now: It has been referred to as the Anthropocene, the Information Age, the Artificial Intelligence Age, the Return of Geopolitics. “But none... See more
instagram.comExformation (Tor Nørretranders): the hidden background of experience, associations, memories, culture, bodily knowledge that makes meaning possible. "We think we're communicating with words, but we're really communicating our entire worlds." When society loses shared stories, loses shared exformation — words no longer rest on same ground.
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