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About rates of change

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Roman manhole inscribed with the ancient SPQR

Animatronic moving dinosaur at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

The distinction of process from fixed identities is not the same as a distinction of commodified surfaces from deep rooted identities. We should be more self-aware of our roles within the process of place making.

-- Granted that we shouldn't identify depth with fixity, still aren't you presuming a rapid pace of place making? The changes could be very slow and for all practical intents static on the scale of our actions and lives.

-- That's the way it used to be, though even then there was more change than shows in any quick look. But in our time the changes have become more self-conscious and more rapid.

-- But those changes you are pointing to are just superficial variety, fads and fancies; underneath there is less change in the basics: commodities and spectacle and hyperreality.

-- This brings the discussion back to whether metaphors of depth and surface are appropriate.