Lovely paper on the importance of gatherings as sources of fatefulness: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117 (via … ironically published in '19!)
"Social occasions are more likely than other kinds of time to house events that unexpectedly shift the trajectory of individual lives."
Conversation
I would like some more fatefulness in my life please!
I don't know how to square this with a strong sense of self-efficacy, etc: like, I don't exactly *want* to be tossed around by the winds of fate! And yet it's hard to sail a ship with just the wind from one's own lungs…
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Interesting to consider why video hangouts don't produce the five effects the author describes.
1. "A special world set off from ordinary live": nope, still on my couch, looking at my laptop, but now it's showing a different rectangle.
(con't)
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2. "The electrical charge… generated when people assemble together": video chat really doesn't generate that emotional spark for me—but I don't know why.
3. "Worlds colliding": harder to casually meet new people with typical limitations on polyphonic/spatial conversation
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4. "Forced public rankings": video calls feel relatively low stakes; you're not offering up precious seats around the Saturday night dinner table.
5. "Complex choreography (while everyone is watching)": the medium distorts everyone's social grace in n-way chats, lowering stakes