Speculative images grow nearer even as means to reach them shrink

Evidence

The space between representations of reality (fantasy) and reality shrinks as these images come closer to us (through our smartphone screens), yet at the same time swells as the resources with which we could reach out to those images become scanter. … Thus, the new denizens of speculative communities “sediment” around imagined collectivities that transcend traditional class politics while often remaining anchored within national boundaries. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 101

Categorization

• SEED: The fantasy-reality gap that both shrinks and swells simultaneously — techno-proximity against resource-scarcity — could anchor an essay on why the seduction of speculative images intensifies as access to them worsens.
• XREF: Echoes the ‘counter-speculation’ question the reader is tracking: speculative communities form around imagined collectivities while transcending traditional class politics.