Sixian

But clock time was not always viewed as being this organic. The accusation that is today leveled against the internet — that it distorts natural rhythmicity and turns the human body into a machine — was once leveled against clock time itself.

But moral stabilities are also indebted to larger territorial flows. So even the concept of good and accountability and evil is also indebted to other things, the river, the libidinal flows, and the archetypal algorithms that make us are constantly migrating, and in those moments good could become incarcerating.

Nonetheless, smartphones remain intensely skin-like on a metaphorical level: we stroke, and they are minutely responsive. Our fingertips enjoy the ultra-smoothness of their Gorilla Glass screens, velvety like a youthful cheek. Silicone cases add a body-equivalent degree of friction.‘From the classical (and even the cybernetic) viewpoint, technology... See more

Stretch wrap illustrates one of the fundamental stories of the twentieth century. On the one hand, cities and industries are constructed on an epic and hyper-visible scale from steel, wood, glass, and feats of engineering. On the other hand, within the interior spaces of the warehouse, the factory, and the distribution center, plastic expands and... See more

"Doing the work that your parents then do for your spirit or for your character. But there’s an aspect of it that I like: It led me to think about what I do as a kind of two-way, generational reparenting. On the one hand, caring for these bygone thinkers, while at the same time imbuing the present generation with their hand-me-down wisdom and their... See more

Data Network Effects, 6 Elements

One holds onto an aspiration for back to normal (although the desirableness of that version of the present has come under question as well) and thinks of recent events as mere hiccups and minor diversions in the greater scheme of things.