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Their wordsAnd yet, as Le Guin reminds us, uncertainty is also the only thing that makes life possible. Without it, we would move like automatons through predetermined paths, unspirited, unaware, unliving.
Our reading
Technologies and screens are tools used to make the world seem more predictable and less uncertain.
Their wordsThat is, screens and all the technologies that accompany them are tools to make the world seem more predictable and less uncertain: infinite scroll; autoplay; the always-on "live" news cycle; the steady drumbeat of notifications; the apps that summon servants to our doors, hiding all the labor and improvisation and accidents (often involving blood and bone) that go into moving atoms from one place to another.
Their wordsMore often than not, that efficiency translates into brittleness and weakness, into systems so fragile they break the moment something unanticipated arises.
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