Despite the obscurity of the reproductive ecology of eels and shrimps, the goal of science, the mechanism of the production of truth, is to reduce these voids of knowledge by proposing a universal model that legitimizes normative beliefs. Aristotle concluded that eels lack sex and that they emerged from earthworms, and Freud dissected more than 400 eels to find their genitals.
This obsession is also present in contemporary visual culture that does not allow vacuum. Every negative space on an infinitely scrollable screen is an exploitable resource, and algorithmic tools such as Generative Fill consume their capacity to contain.
The extractivist practice of design results in design panism, the optimism of designers to make design engulf everything, claiming that everything is and should be designed. However, this is not a universal pedagogy. It is usually the privilege of a white European man to be able to turn a globe and pick an alien topic they want to utilize, then move on to the next topic somewhere else after depleting one.
💧Commodification by Graphic design
💧Diagramming Together
💧Attention Economy