Food for Thought

We cannot be defined: neither by social labels nor by algorithmically compiled profiles that categorise us according to data, clicks and consumer behaviour. “Straight-A student”, “loser”, “high performer”, "unemployed person", “intellectual”, “power shopper”, 'gig worker', “nerd” – these are all convenient boxes, sometimes useful, but deceptively black and white.

To de-fine something is to determine it from the end (de fine). As long as our lives continue – and we can contribute to their course – our futures are open. If what we do and think makes a difference, then the future and the end are uncertain. Then we cannot let ourselves be defined.

It follows that life and the future can never be without ambiguity. As free human beings, we are unfixed beings (Friedrich Nietzsche). That is why we need ambiguity in our relationships with ourselves and others. That is why we should maintain a critical distance from all systems – digital and social – whose logic and business model are based on fixing, defining and sorting.

So: let us refuse to be defined!