Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“Creating a nomos is the work of exploration, conquest and settlement, and is therefore the stuff of sci-fi but can also apply to earthly forms like the foundation of institutions and such things as start-ups, which therefore supply us with something like our modern myths. And events represented within the juridical will always refer back to this foundation, which itself always settles into a juridical form—which, though, in reality it always had as the discovery or foundation will have always had its origin in some charter or grant. (This is why an especially effective and somewhat cruel way of debunking such origin stories is by finding some legalistic sleight of hand that gave one or another of the founders the rights later exploited economically. It’s also why uncritical celebrations of foundings, like the story of the creation of a great store chain always comes across as kitschy and vaguely dishonest—and also will almost invariably contain a sub-plot where rivals or the government use legal machinations to block the hero.) And there’s very little of interest in the event of scientific work itself to non-scientists until the invention or discovery can be presented publicly. So, we are led back to events ultimately taking the form of framing transgressions to be remedied, with the public brought in as a kind of jury, but sometimes solicited as witnesses, or a braying mob outside a courtroom demanding justice.”

— Adam Katz, On the Existence of World Scenes · Dec 7, 2024 · Bouvard Substack