~ RTAE ~ Resisting The Attention Economy

~ SU ~ Surviving Usefulness

~ NIHTDTN ~ Nothing Is Harder To Do Than Nothing

~ IAWWOVIDBOP-MOUFOELM-C-O-O-AAAFRBTTWUD ~ In A World Where Our Value Is Determined By Our Productivity – Many Of Us Find Our Every Last Minute – Captured – Optimized – Or – Appropriated As A Financial Resource By The Technologies We Use Daily

~ TPODN-ITRTWRARTBMP-BR-TQWWCPAP ~ The Point Of Doing Nothing – Isn’t To Return To Work Refreshed And Ready To Be More Productive – But Rather – To Question What We Currently Perceive As Productive

~ DL ~ Deep Listening

~ TMOSTL ~ The Moment Of Stopping To Listen

~ A-P-N-S-DNFYIOFYTE-NFYTS ~ A – Public – Noncommercial – Space – Demands Nothing From You In Order For You To Enter – Nor For You To Stay

~ TMODBPSAOSITYDHTBA-O-PTWTBS-TBT ~ The Most Obvious Difference Between Public Space And Other Spaces Is That You Don’t Have To Buy Anything – Or – Pretend To Want To Buy Something – To Be There

~ TSD-CU-AAUT-SWT-‘P’-CBMOEOEEI ~ Those Spaces Deemed – Commercially Unproductive – Are Always Under Threat – Since What They – “Produce” – Can’t Be Measured Or Exploited Or Even Easily Identified

~ Y-IDGET-W-FA-ATT! ~ Yes – It Did Get Easier To – Work – From Anywhere – All The Time!

~ WMTTROL ~ Work Metastasizing Through The Rest Of Life

~ FIPOC ~ Financially Incentivized Proliferation Of Chatter

~ NOMO ~ The Necessity Of Missing Out

~ NOSMO ~ The Necessity Of Sometimes Missing Out

~ TIIFACB-LIT-DL-BS-A-L-AI-MUYP ~ There Is In Fact A Connection Between – Listening In The – Deep Listening – Bodily Sense – And – Listening – As In – Me Understanding Your Perspective

~ PO-S-AO-T-F-N-I-N-C-AAT-FM-FC-FC ~ Protect Our – Spaces – And Our – Time – For – Non-Instrumental – Non-Commercial – Activity And Thought – For Maintenance – For Care – For Conviviality

~ DD ~ Digital Detox

~ ‘P’-IAENAF-AAWWCBE ~ “Peace” – Is An Endless Negotiation Among Free-Acting Agents Whose Wills Cannot Be Engineered

~ P-NEBETIWFW-AATRPTD-IAAATRPTMOMB ~ Politics – Necessarily Exists Between Even Two Individuals With Free Will – Any Attempt To Reduce Politics To Design – Is Also An Attempt To Reduce People To Machines Or Mechanical Beings

~ SIDWU-TVOAOP-THIFOPSRHAS-DFKFAMUWFC ~ So Instinctively Do We Understand – The Value Of An Outsider’s Perspective – That History Is Full Of People Seeking Remote Hermits And Sages – Desperate For Knowledge From A Mind Unconcerned With Familiar Comforts

~ WIA-PSOF-PCASTT-NC-COAATSTTTCBEMD ~ Whipped Into A – Permanent State Of Frenzy – People Create And Subject Themselves To – News Cycles – Complaining Of Anxiety At The Same Time That They Check Back Ever More Diligently

~ TLOAACDTME ~ The Logic Of Advertising And Clicks Dictates The Media Experience

~ FSOOF-IAVSR-TSGFWS ~ Firecrackers Setting Off Other Firecrackers – In A Very Small Room – That Soon Gets Filled With Smoke

~ TNTPSAIMBTE ~ The Need To Periodically Step Away Is More Obvious Than Ever

~ WHTBATDB:C/P-L/CB ~ We Have To Be Able To Do Both: Contemplate/Participate – Leave/Come Back

~ MJ-IRB-C-BA ~ Moral Judgement – Is Replaced By – Cost-Benefit Analysis

~ TS ~ Third Space

~ LIACSODIU ~ Living In A Constant State Of Distraction Is Unpleasant

~ HSCMEATRTO-ADOL-M ~ Historically – Some Can More Easily Afford To Refuse Than Others – A Degree Of Latitude – A Margin

~ IS-CGALWTAIT-‘A’-TR ~ Institutional Support – Can Go A Long Way Toward Allowing Individuals To – “Afford” – To Refuse

~ AOCR-AOM-‘C’-FP-ITCI ~ Acts Of Collective Refusal – Are Obviously More – “Costly” – For Participants – If They’re Considered Illegal

~ TAM-‘SA’-TB-R-ATM-OGPTSITAOOA-TBAUEOKOMR ~ There Are Many – “Systemic Abuses” – To Be – Refused – At The Moment – One Great Place To Start Is The Abuse Of Our Attention – That’s Because Attention Undergirds Every Other Kind Of Meaningful Refusal

~ II-A(DWTPAT)-TMOR-RCOICAMTDONWANWOMTT ~ If Its – Attention (Deciding What To Pay Attention To) – That Makes Our Reality – Regaining Control Of It Can Also Mean The Discovery Of New Worlds And New Ways Of Moving Through Them

~ B-IWAT-WWSFTBOHWCA-T-TIODOABATC ~ But – If We Allow That – What We See Forms The Basis Of How We Can Act – Then – The Importance Of Directing Our Attention Becomes All Too Clear

~ I-AAW-ASCL-T-WHEMRTWAAEEAIEPOOA ~ If – Attention And Will – Are So Closely Linked – Then – We Have Even More Reason To Worry About An Entire Economy And Information Ecosystem Preying On Our Attention

~ EMTDW? ~ Empower Me To Do What?

~ GFMATW? ~ Good For Me According To Whom?

~ WTPOYAHC-YRYRD-YBTMAAIADKOW ~ When The Pattern Of Your Attention Has Changed – You Render Your Reality Differently – You Begin To Move And Act In A Different Kind Of World

~ EOS ~ Ecology Of Strangers

~ WSCATAUBWABTEOIAPS ~ We Should Care About Those Around Us Because We Are Beholden To Each Other In A Practical Sense

~ WSGFBAITAR-YCEFYPBITNCICF ~ When Something Goes From Being An Idea To A Reality – You Can’t Easily Force Your Perception Back Into The Narrow Container It Came From

~ IWLO-R-LI-BCB-OFBABI-WAARTRONB-S-C-O-C-NSAOOO-IOOP ~ If We Let Our – Real-Life Interactions – Be Corralled By – Our Filter Bubbles And Branded Identities – We Are Also Running The Risk Of Never Being – Surprised – Challenged – Or – Changed – Never Seeing Anything Outside Of Ourselves – Including Our Own Privilege

~ P-POO-P-IDF-D-P-A-E ~ Politics – Play Out On – Platforms – Ill Designed For – Difference – Plurality – And – Encounter

~ T-WWATNOW-BD-B-CD-WHSMTLFTBOE ~ Today – When We Are Threatened Not Only With – Biological Desertification – But – Cultural Desertification – We Have So Much To Learn From The Basics Of Ecology

~ IIW-AOA-TWD-WTH-WTS-A-WIOWHA-ITW-AFTG-NJF-L-B-F-E ~ It Is With – Acts Of Attention – That We Decide – Who To Hear – Who To See – And – Who In Our World Has Agency – In This Way – Attention Forms The Ground – Not Just For – Love – But – For – Ethics

~ APB-WALOTTW-SESWAFSE;ASB-WAEDBOC ~ As Physical Beings – We Are Literally Open To The World – Suffused Every Second With Air From Somewhere Else; As Social Beings – We Are Equally Determined By Our Contexts

~ HAO-B-TSCIATATYDHTWS ~ Humility And Openness – Because – To Seek Context Is Already To Acknowledge That You Don’t Have The Whole Story

~ C-IWAWYHYAOFLE;TLYHI-TMCA ~ Context – Is What Appears When You Hold Your Attention Open For Long Enough; The Longer You Hold It – The More Context Appears

~ ARTTMB ~ A Race To The Mediocre Bottom

~ B-B-AACOMOISOFAAW-WEHOTORR ~ But – Because – Apologizing And Changing Our Minds Online Is So Often Framed As A Weakness – We Either Hold Our Tongues Or Risk Ridicule

~ TCCOSAFWIETBAMATAAB ~ The Crowd Can Only See A Figure Who Is Expected To Be As Monolithic And Timeless As A Brand

~ GTAOTITFUDAUO-C-I-A-N-TAT-SAU-C-INLTA-CSS ~ Given That All Of The Issues That Face Us Demand An Understanding Of – Complexity – Interrelationship – And – Nuance – The Ability To – Seek And Understand – Context – Is Nothing Less Than A – Collective Survival Skill

~ DASOPBEAARI-TI-IWWTRHTCAEO-WWAHTRHTCAP ~ Developing A Sense Of Place Both Enables Attention And Requires It – That Is – If We Want To Relearn How To Care About Each Other – We Will Also Have To Relearn How To Care About Place

~ MD ~ Manifest Dismantling

~ TPOTAECJBABLOARTIOPDT;TAEATIOIO-PS-EP-C-A-R ~ The Pitfalls Of The Attention Economy Can’t Just Be Avoided By Logging Off And Refusing The Influence Of Persuasive Design Techniques; They Also Emerge At The Intersection Of Issues Of – Public Space – Environmental Politics – Class – And – Race

~ T-2007-2008-C-WTCO-ALRBS-IWPWCITHOTLACOS-STC-CB-HPMI-PB-TA-UMPPC-QE(QE) ~ The – 2007-2008 – Crisis – Was The Consequence Of – A Loosely Regulated Banking System – In Which Power Was Concentrated In The Hands Of Too Limited A Cast Of Speculators – Since The Crisis – Central Banks – Have Pumped Money Into – Private Banks – Through An – Unconventional Monetary Policy Process Called – Quantitative Easing (QE)

~ QE-IAOCTTEA-CB-MEM-AT-IIBAFM-IRFPBOS(OS)-A-‘CM’-S ~ QE – Is An Overtly Complex Term That Entails A – Central Bank – Manufacturing Electronic Money – And Then – Injecting It Into Banks And Financial Markets – In Return For Purchasing Bonds Or Securities (Or Stocks) – A – “Conjured-Money” – Scheme

~ B-TLOGUTSO-ATW-TS-A-LR-GTTCAITEIRP-U-TBSBACTTC-CTA-A-PFTTCTBT-AAO ~ Banks – The Larger Ones Gobbled Up The Smaller Ones – Along The Way – Their Size – And – Loose Regulations – Gave Them The Confidence And Impetus To Engage In Riskier Practices – Ultimately – They Became So Big And Complex That They Could – Create Toxic Assets – And – Provide Financing To Their Customers To Buy Them – All At Once

~ TGSFTM-T-DQES-CBL-PTNTTW-HTGE-TCHBFFTT-TW-NDC-NL-NR-TD-T-CM-I-HRP-PBWUNOTDAWTCMTDWTD ~ To Garner Support For Their Multi-Trillion-Dollar Qe Strategies – Central Bank Leaders – Peddled The Notion That They Were – Helping The General Economy – That Couldn’t Have Been Further From The Truth – There Was – No Direct Channel – No Law – No Requirement – To Divert – The – Cheap Money – Into – Helping Real People – Private Banks Were Under No Obligation To Do Anything With This Cheap Money They Didn’t Want To Do

~ TDW-HASROSMCC-ITWCBSMI-ICGIS-A-ANCE ~ The Danger With – Having A System Rely On So Much Conjured Capital – Is That When Central Bankers Stop Manifesting It – It Could Go Into Shock – And – A New Crisis Emerge

~ T-GFSE-MUISL-TTEOCATTAMM ~ The – Global Financial System Elites – Meet Up In Swanky Locations – They Take Each Other’s Calls And Tend To Avoid Mere Mortals

~ CBANEBV-YTPAG-TPPUTAO-SP-AFE-A-M(ASALO)I ~ Central Bankers Are Not Elected By Voters – Yet They Play At Government – They Promote PolicIes Under The Auspices Of – Stabilizing Prices – Achieving Full Employment – And – Maintaining (A Somewhat Arbitrary Level Of) Inflation

~ POTU ~ Power Of The Unelected

~ TINEALGOT-QMA ~ There Is Nothing Easy About Letting Go Of The – Quantitative Money Addiction

~ EOADOAMADIABNRAEOFS-EIIBMTHH-ITF-OETP-O-CMWTS-MROIWT ~ Existing On A Diet Of Artificial Money And Demand Is Anything But Normal For An Economic Or Financial System – Even If It Boosts Markets To Historic Highs – If The Flow – Or Even The Possibility – Of – Conjured Money Was To Stop – Markets Relying On It Would Tank

~ ABPOTFCACBCWTRIEATSASTN ~ Another By-Product Of The Financial Crisis And Central Bank Collusion Was The Rise In Economic Anxiety That Spawned A Swing Toward Nationalism

~ BCBOBPSAGO-TAOOCOTETA-TVBTCFWTDAPRITWEARSITWOCFTRFTP ~ Because Central Banks Operate Beyond Public Scrutiny And Government Oversight – They Are Only Occasionally Called On To Explain Their Actions – They Vacillate Between Taking Credit For What They Deem Are Positive Results In The World Economy And Remaining Silent In The Wake Of Catastrophic Failures That Result From Their Policies

~ WNADR-WADOORP-WAHFAECC ~ We Need A Debt Reset – Without A Debt Overhaul Or Relief Program – We Are Headed For Another Epic Credit Crisis

~ IO-FSBATHOTBPB-CB-SFLIARP ~ Instead Of – Financing Speculative Bubbles At The Hands Of The Big Private Banks – Central Banks – Should Finance Large Investment And Recovery Programs

~ WS-BUTB-STTCHPDHDTNC-IOTODTFTWTAO ~ We Should – Break Up The Banks – So That They Can’t Hold People’s Deposits Hostage During The Next Crisis – It Only Takes One Domino To Fall To Wipe Them All Out

~ I-TIFC-TCWNBB ~ In – The Inevitable Financial Crash – These Conjurers Will Not Be Blamed

~ T-WE-R-I-AOGTTCB-AFDFS-AHFP ~ The – World Economy – Remains – Imperilled – An Opportunistic Game To The Central Banks – A Field Day For Speculators – A Hazard For Populations