As materiality has evolved from the weight of gold to ethereal digital currencies, human connection and interaction also transition from solidity (physical presence, solid character) to the instability of digital relations. The economic transformation mirrors the shift from concrete to conceptual: all things become lighter forms of existence.
Consider communication, from letters inscribed on paper and ink to instant digital messages. Or physical marketplaces, where goods exchanged hands over handshakes, to virtual transactions and blind clicks.
This increasing ‘lightness of being’ spins us toward a non-material trajectory: the weight of our interactions mirrors the weight of our values, from physical engagement to ephemeral experience. Once, our presence socially was communally anchored (and bound to mores) but now fluctuates and disperses into the digital ether, yet our flickering agency now takes the form of ghosts wailing to be substantive again.