Humans are intimate beings [Nahwesen].
Intimacy, however, is not the same as a lack of distance.
Distance is a part of it.
Nearness and distance belong together.
The human being is thus simultaneously
a being of nearness and a being of distance.

That is why Kafka says
that we can hold someone who is near
or think of someone who is far away
but all else is beyond our power.
Because it makes everything gapless,
digital communication destroys both nearness and distance.
The relation to the other requires distance.
Distance ensures that the Thou
is not reduced to It.
In the age of gaplessness,
relation gives way to contact without distance.

-excerpt Non-things by Byung-chul Han, p. 55

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Is there a song for a gapless age?  This tune by Dave Loggins points to the haunting of distance and of closeness, — an intimate life, “real” with texture and nuance.

Please Come To Boston

By Dave Loggins

Please come to Boston for the springtime
I’m stayin’ here with some friends
And they’ve got lots of room
You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk

By a cafe where I hope to be workin’ soon
Please come to Boston
She said, “No
Would you come home to me?“

And she said, “Hey, ramblin’ boy
Now won’t you settle down?
Boston ain’t your kind of town
There ain’t no gold and
There ain’t nobody like me
I’m the number one fan of the man from Tennessee.”

Please come to Denver with the snowfall
We’ll move up into the mountains so far
That we can’t be found
And throw “I love you” echoes down the canyon

And then lie awake at night until they come back around
Please come to Denver
She said, “No
Boy, would you come home to me?”

And she said, “Hey, ramblin’ boy
Why don’t you settle down?
Denver ain’t your kind of town
There ain’t no gold and
There ain’t nobody like me
‘Cause I’m the number one fan
Of the man from Tennessee.”

Now, this drifter’s world goes ’round and ’round
And I doubt that it’s ever gonna stop
But of all the dreams I’ve lost or found
And all that I ain’t got
I still need to lean to
Somebody I can sing to

Please come to L.A. to live forever
A California life alone is just too hard to build
I live in a house that looks out over the ocean
And there’s some stars that fell from the sky

And livin’ up on the hill
Please come to L.A
She just said, “No
Boy, won’t you come home to me?”

And she said, “Hey, ramblin’ boy
Why don’t you settle down?
L.A. can’t be your kind of town
There ain’t no gold and
There ain’t nobody like me

No, no, I’m the number one fan
Of the man from Tennessee
I’m the number one fan
Of the man from Tennessee”