The Studio of Gratifying Discourse

Scholar's rock, Qing dynasty1C. says it’s better to make tacos at home because we know what’s in them. But I think it’s the not-knowing that makes Taco Bell the spiritual choice.The sociologist Eva Illouz describes the imagination of our ancestors as “information-thin,” which is why they could conjure such intense visions of gods and ghosts. To fill in the gaps.Today we have “internet imagination.” Our brains cook in a vat of liquid crystal fragments, leaving no room to ponder the whole, let alone the void. Desire no longer flows from the unknown parts of ourselves, says Byung-Chul Han. Now it’s like shopping. We crave images and information.But not-knowing is fun. Like when you’re bullshitting with friends, trying to remember the name of the actor who was in that thing with the airplane or whether it’s true your intestines can reach the moon. Then some jackass pulls out his phone to look it up.2In 1985, Italo Calvino wrote a memo for the new millennium:What will the future of the…