It wouldn't be accurate to write that I resist immersion. Frankly, I like diving in to things. But I also find value in barriers that allow us to distinguish ... between anything. The ability to define something as "this" rather than "that" seems to me to be a central characteristic of any thinking process. Eleven years ago I concluded one of these columns with a thought on the desirability of distancing that still rings true to me today:
There are probably many good reasons for doing this, but not the least of them is that when barriers still exist, and we continue to distinguish between here and there, between now and then, we continue to discover what may have always been there, but that wasn't distinct from a certain, previous, perspective. We're still capable of being surprised.I'm not really sure that's it's possible to be prepared for a surprise. The idea seems more than just a bit oxymoronic. But it's the sort of approach that I hope I've taken throughout these pages. Digitality and the internet are for me among the wonders of the world, and I'm happy to spend a substantial percentage of my time in the world that they offer me. At the same time, however, I resist the cyborgian dream of becoming one with that world. It seems to me that were I to do that, I'd no longer be able to discern all of its wonders ... nor, of course, its blemishes and flaws that are often just as interesting.