Resisting What Han Tells Us Is Already Here

Han (2022) states that “Today, there are probably very few things to which we would grant… and honorable farewell.” While reading, I have found myself morose and discouraged reading Han’s text on the non-thing, and looking for ways that I resist or fail to fit into his dismal picture of a digitized and data-fied world. I look at the needlepoints, blankets, hats, scarves, and artwork in my home that was made by people that I have met in person, as if to reassure myself that I am not a victim of Han’s phenomenon. But Han is right. Many of the things in my home are no longer important. My partner Markus shrunk a cable-knit sweater I got from Ireland. My other partner Nick said we would replace it someday, but it is irreplaceable: a souvenir bought by my mother to mark a trip all my aunts took with their mother to Ireland. I wore the sweater only a handful of times per year for holiday events. There is no metadata out there for my sweater. Only this digital eulogy.