Fragile
Publish date 27-01-2024
Fragile is what can break.
For materials science, fragility is a characteristic that must be mastered to avoid unpleasant surprises when using materials.
The breakup comes suddenly, it doesn't give much warning.
But going a little further, if we consider everything that is not merely a working material, fragility is something invisible, and many questions remain open.
Who knows how to see the exact moment when a disease arises and begins to develop?
Paradoxically, current technology would allow this, but on the condition of living constantly inside a machine and, therefore, giving one's own life in exchange.
And as for people, so for the world: is our planet fragile? Are society and relationships fragile? The symbols we have built, the ones we have tied our hopes to?
We are fully immersed in the fragility of things: it is an aspect of reality that we prefer to keep away from our minds. But it's only one aspect.
Many things are fragile, yet they resist indescribable stress.
The opposite of fragility is tenacity, which cannot be found in any single piece, but always in two or more at a time; it is the ability to stay together without breaking up, it is the quality of a relationship.
Fabio Arduini
NP December 2023