Attention is a vector, not a scalar, because it aims beyond itself

Evidence

Even as we note that our attention depends on the vectors that orientate and channel it – which is perfectly true and which is what subjects it to the now disproportionate power of the vectoralist class – we should not lose sight of the fact that attention is itself a vector: pressure, orientation, ‘direction of effort’, Zuwendung. According to its etymology (ad-tendere), attention ‘tends towards’ something: it calls for an exit from oneself, a broadening of horizons. It indicates a ‘potential’ in excedence over any predefined and preconfigured identity. To recognize the vectoral nature of attention is, on the one hand, to assess what determines it: like its representation as an arrow, it has a certain size, a certain orientation and a certain direction, which can only be understood and explained within a certain field of forces in which it reacts to exterior constraints (flows, channels, pressures). But this also requires that we emphasize, on the other hand, that it is not a simple line, measurable in centimetres and reducible to a scalar number: the point of its arrow serves as a reminder that it aims at something other than what it is at present. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 238

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the vector/scalar distinction in attention theory, with the etymology ad-tendere grounding it.
• XREF: The vector vs scalar distinction (point of the arrow, excedence over identity) resonates with Deleuzian notions of the virtual and with modes-of-existence debates. — connects to: Attention is fundamentally alienated because it is always directed at something else. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 509; Attention is an interactive relation to one’s life-sustaining environment, not a resource — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 86; Attention cannot function as currency without homogenizing measurement — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 163 (+6 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The vector/scalar distinction — attention defined by aim toward what it is not yet — is a genuinely novel conceptual wedge that resists one-line summarization.

Broader Connections

• Attention is the mind’s selective possession of one focus amid several possible ones. #corroborates (0.85) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 5
• Attention necessarily requires ignoring competing stimuli to select one focus #qualifies (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1154
• Attention can be defined beyond action and receptivity #expands (0.80)
• Attention is an activity that forms persons, not a resource that platforms act upon #expands (0.80) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 68