The physical world is the last shared reference point people cannot opt out of

Evidence

I value bioregionalism for the even more basic reason that, just as attention may be the last resource we have to withhold, the physical world is our last common reference point. At least until everyone is wearing augmented reality glasses 24/7, you cannot opt out of awareness of physical reality. The fact that commenting on the weather is a cliché of small talk is actually a profound reminder of this, since the weather is one of the only things we each know any other person must pay attention to. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 502

Categorization

• DEFINE: One of the three redirections — toward the bioregion as a meeting ground — distilled to its core argument.
• QUESTION: The privilege critique: Odell assumes ‘physical reality’ is universally encountered, but access to parkland and unhurried attention is itself shaped by class. Worth pressing.