The contemporary necessity for vigilance
 

Crary: "Insmonia corresponds to the necessity for vigilance [...] It is the disquiet of the effort to avoid inattention to the torment of the other"
 
However, the "ethic of watchfulness" has a "frustrating inefficacy": "the act of witnessing and its monotony can become a mere enduring of the night, of the disaster"
 
In this situation, "we face the near impossibility of living humanely" (19)

> from Jonathan Crary's 24/7: Late Capitalism and the End of Sleep (2013)

> tagged with #attention, #other, #suffering

> created September 23, 2025 at 7:55:43 AM


> part of unfinished everything


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unfinished everything is an original work / ongoing project (1997-present) by jeremy p. bushnell

selection, arrangement, and original text available for creative reuse under this licensing arrangement

authors' quoted words are their own.


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