Alex Paterson

This article explores the connection between structurally induced precarity and the material practice of digital scrolling in the global north. It argues in favour of an expanded definition of precarity and that precarity, as a generalised affective condition, results in a state of totalising fear (fear which relates, at once, to discrete objects as well as the world itself). In that context, this article advances the claim that scrolling can be understood as an affective attachment (of the kind outlined by Lauren Berlant), developed in response to totalising fear, and which enables the subject to suspend time and to escape from conscious experience of precarity. In establishing this conclusion, the article also explores how the form of scrolling engenders an absorbing, passive and essentially ‘blank’ experience of the world, and how the attainment of this state is an expression of a limited, precarious mode of agency.

This paper extends upon Costica Bradatan's analysis of Emil Cioran in his book, In Praise of Failure. It provides a defence of Cioran's lifestyle - his refusal to engage in traditional concepts of work and his ideal of 'doing nothing'. I defend Cioran in three ways. First, I argue that Cioran's mantra of doing nothing enabled him to contemplate, to come closer to the absolute, and to contribute to the cultivation of civilisation through his thought. Second, I argue that Cioran's lifestyle enabled him to extricate himself from the damaging cycle of success and failure. By settling for failure from the very beginning, Cioran was able to live without the distractions and damages caused by fear of failure and desire for recognition or success. Third, I argue that Cioran's lifestyle is a radical expression of authenticity and freedom.