Attention is directional potential, not a static countable quantity.

Evidence

To characterize attention as a ‘vector’ is, for Valéry, to insist that it is by nature pressure, prolongation, effort, conatus – or, to be even more precise, ‘direction of effort’ (the Zuwendung-attention already encountered above). If attention selects, filters or prioritizes, it does so starting from a principle of orientation. Attention cannot be reduced to a simple given, a static number: it is much less (countable) reality than (unpredictable) ‘potential’. In other words, as it relates to thought, attention ‘is always formed in vectoral mode’ (like an arrow), and it is only when it stops to think and develop that it can be grasped ‘in scalar form’ (like a number). — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 236

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the vector/scalar distinction for attention, the theoretical core the whole chapter builds toward.
• XREF: The vector vs scalar dichotomy should connect to Wark’s vectoralist capitalism named earlier in the chapter. — connects to: Attention is an interactive relation to one’s life-sustaining environment, not a resource — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 86; Attention is a vector, not a scalar, because it aims beyond itself — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 238; Attention is the mind’s selective possession of one focus amid several possible ones. — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 5

Broader Connections

• Attention is a vector, not a scalar, because it aims beyond itself #corroborates (0.90) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 238
• Attention is the mind’s selective possession of one focus amid several possible ones. #contradicts (0.75) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 5