This line ("A frictionless life may promise ease and a certain security, but it also leaves us adrift, chasing one superficial pleasure after another; never satisfied...") reminds me a lot of what Han says about seriality, which makes me think about the relationship between traction and his discussion of ritual.
Another piece I left out, bc I couldn't quite fit it in: I heard or read someone recently who cited that old line from Virilio about how the invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck, and this whole cluster of ideas strikes me as the (similarly accurate) inverse of that perspective (V's thoughts on speed and freedom are probably also relevant). I may need to find the box or the shelf where I've stored my copies...
This began as a comment on your post, and quickly spiraled from there, so thanks for that!
Following the reading of the comments here, I dug out a book review that set the curtains on fire for me a couple years back: "Can We Be Human in Meatspace"- Brad East on Andy Crouch's "The Life We're Looking For" ( https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/can-we-be-human-in-meatspace ), which asks, much as does Spinks herein: "What are people for?". A warning: The New Atlantis is a periodical whose masthead lists a bunch of folks on their board that Jane Mayer wrote about years ago, and Atlantis' poke into publishing seems to be bent on shifting a particular trend of Christian beliefs to serve their 'cause', and getting it 'right'; but, there's thought in East's review of Crouch's book that's parallel to the problem with a "frictionless" existence you note. It yanks at the rug upon which all those folks stand with their drinks and canapes, without, of course, unsettling any of them. Crouch picks up on two points that click for me: "Flow", and the "Veiled Force at work in our global economic system". Flow, as in at the human scale, propelling oneself on their bicycle to the hardware store, as opposed to the "Flow", of boarding a leased Gulfstream G280 and being hustled down the runway effortlessly and mostly anonymously all the way to Davos. The "Veiled Force", as in the nearly untrammeled power of trans-national financialism, which has seized the day by being above national boundaries or community loyalty (unless it's the annual Autumn Prom and picnic the Americans for Prosperity holds for their 'community'). There's this quip from Crouch on the "Veiled Force" that isn't so veiled that seems pungently provocative for me, and it's what's also led me to these conversations:
"What technology wants is really what Mammon wants: a world of context-free, responsibility-free, dependence-free power measured out in fungible, storable units of value. And ultimately what Mammon wants is to turn a world made for and stewarded by persons into a world made of and reduced to things…."; and plowed under and turned into money for its own sake.
There's echoes in Spinks' observations which harmonize with Crouch, and also here, with what I hear from the thirty-somethings I know, and the manner in which their "modern existence" is made less human, at least human as I remember from just fifty years ago. And Wendell Berry, too.
Forgive the lengthy comment- but you've provided a lens that that cuts through the considerable ground fog for me, that there's a real lack of traction on the horizon, and what'll a people do who rely on seeing the world through Zuck's fabulous new goggles or the 'alternative' Vision Pro when the grid sags? When nobody even knows their knots anymore? But I'm all out of my daily quota of "things in quotes" again. Sorry, again, but sincerely, thanks for your digging and insight shared.
“Sacasas’ essay is intended as provocation rather than prescription, but I think it urges us to come to terms with friction”
I endorse this reading!
It sent me searching for a 2011 blog post I titled “The Frictionless Life Is Also a Life Without Traction”: thefrailestthing.com/2011/05/05/a-frictionless-life-is-also-a-life-without-traction/
Nice! Thanks for sharing!
This line ("A frictionless life may promise ease and a certain security, but it also leaves us adrift, chasing one superficial pleasure after another; never satisfied...") reminds me a lot of what Han says about seriality, which makes me think about the relationship between traction and his discussion of ritual.
Another piece I left out, bc I couldn't quite fit it in: I heard or read someone recently who cited that old line from Virilio about how the invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck, and this whole cluster of ideas strikes me as the (similarly accurate) inverse of that perspective (V's thoughts on speed and freedom are probably also relevant). I may need to find the box or the shelf where I've stored my copies...
This began as a comment on your post, and quickly spiraled from there, so thanks for that!
cgb
Following the reading of the comments here, I dug out a book review that set the curtains on fire for me a couple years back: "Can We Be Human in Meatspace"- Brad East on Andy Crouch's "The Life We're Looking For" ( https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/can-we-be-human-in-meatspace ), which asks, much as does Spinks herein: "What are people for?". A warning: The New Atlantis is a periodical whose masthead lists a bunch of folks on their board that Jane Mayer wrote about years ago, and Atlantis' poke into publishing seems to be bent on shifting a particular trend of Christian beliefs to serve their 'cause', and getting it 'right'; but, there's thought in East's review of Crouch's book that's parallel to the problem with a "frictionless" existence you note. It yanks at the rug upon which all those folks stand with their drinks and canapes, without, of course, unsettling any of them. Crouch picks up on two points that click for me: "Flow", and the "Veiled Force at work in our global economic system". Flow, as in at the human scale, propelling oneself on their bicycle to the hardware store, as opposed to the "Flow", of boarding a leased Gulfstream G280 and being hustled down the runway effortlessly and mostly anonymously all the way to Davos. The "Veiled Force", as in the nearly untrammeled power of trans-national financialism, which has seized the day by being above national boundaries or community loyalty (unless it's the annual Autumn Prom and picnic the Americans for Prosperity holds for their 'community'). There's this quip from Crouch on the "Veiled Force" that isn't so veiled that seems pungently provocative for me, and it's what's also led me to these conversations:
"What technology wants is really what Mammon wants: a world of context-free, responsibility-free, dependence-free power measured out in fungible, storable units of value. And ultimately what Mammon wants is to turn a world made for and stewarded by persons into a world made of and reduced to things…."; and plowed under and turned into money for its own sake.
There's echoes in Spinks' observations which harmonize with Crouch, and also here, with what I hear from the thirty-somethings I know, and the manner in which their "modern existence" is made less human, at least human as I remember from just fifty years ago. And Wendell Berry, too.
Finally (Finally!), there is a real consequence of all this scaling up ("Scale"!) of the digital 'economy' and this 'frictionless life', and even though my knowledge of this subject is limited to my role with ops of a 37,000 Kw municipal generation plant in a small Illinois town in the MISO grid, I did learn some things. I've been hectoring "The electric car is the future!' fans about grid and generation limitations for years, but didn't see this thing coming, and coming right now: new data center and crypto mining loads rising fast, and present grid and generation being unable to scale up to meet that demand, which will create really tough choices for grid operators, and for folks dependent upon air conditioning and other health-maintaining household need. It won't be there. Brownouts and blackouts resulting. Yesterday's WP: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/ai-data-centers-power/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3cfd8a0%2F65e9f6ed0fa79a3a2e7f89b2%2F5c2968adade4e265ef5bf010%2F5%2F54%2F65e9f6ed0fa79a3a2e7f89b2
Forgive the lengthy comment- but you've provided a lens that that cuts through the considerable ground fog for me, that there's a real lack of traction on the horizon, and what'll a people do who rely on seeing the world through Zuck's fabulous new goggles or the 'alternative' Vision Pro when the grid sags? When nobody even knows their knots anymore? But I'm all out of my daily quota of "things in quotes" again. Sorry, again, but sincerely, thanks for your digging and insight shared.